Super, But Still a Man
by Thunderboom5
Summary: I was blessed with incredible power at a young age, and for the last several hundred years I've traveled across the multiverse growing stronger, smarter and wiser as I protected the innocent and vanquished evil on many different worlds. But then I ended up on one I didn't expect to see anytime soon. Here's the story that unfolded of how my journey, at last, came to an end.
1. Author's Note

**Author's Note** :

Why is the first chapter one massive author's note? I'll tell you why.

I've literally had this story idea in my head for years and in many forms. Back in high school, I went through a pretty bad experience and lost two beloved family members within a single month to differing circumstances. I was crushed, but thankfully I found support in my family, friends, my church, but also in Superman himself. I grew to appreciate his dedication to helping those in need, his incredible powers, and his ability to inspire people to be better and never give up hope. Although there are some aspects of his character I admittedly don't like/share, such as his belief that deep down all men are good, and his unwillingness to kill certain villains who will never change or choose to be redeemed because "that'll make him just as bad" and whatnot. No, it doesn't.

But anyway, there were so many times during that dark period when I would feel down and just say to myself "I could really use a Superman in my life", but at one point it changed to "I wish I could **be** Superman so I could make everything better". And even when I was watching tv shows and movies growing up, the idea of travelling the multiverse and being the Superman of all these fictional worlds intrigued me. Granted, I was a kid back then when that thought process started, but even as an adult it's stuck with me, I just never felt the urge to put it down on paper like I usually do with my ideas.

Then came RWBY volume 3.

Yeah.

I have grown so attached to that universe and its characters, and after reading multiple other self-insert fics involving Monty Oum's crowning achievement decided to finally bring my childhood fantasy to life in this form. But you should know that I won't be using my actual name in this story, because while the protagonist is supposed to be me essentially, at the same time he isn't, and not just in terms of superpowers. He represents the type of man I strive to be even with so many faults to my person, somebody better, stronger, different.

Now some who read this might think of the protagonist as just another Mary Sue, or is it "Marty Stu" for guys? Gary Stu? But that's kind of the point: the main character's purpose in this story is to be an unstoppable force for good (just like Superman is in DC) that the villains of Remnant just cannot overcome, but unlike Kal-El, this guy has _centuries_ of experience fighting evil across multiple worlds and dimensions thanks to a little spin I placed on his powers and backstory. And that DOESN'T mean he is perfect in every way, nobody is; like I said earlier he will have personal faults and issues to deal with throughout the story.

So here it is, my self-insert fic that sort of isn't one at the same time. The culmination of my childhood imagination. What'll happen? Let's find out.


	2. Arrival

Traveling through the gateway was always a relaxing experience, physically anyway. The cosmic rays and light particles that swept over my body each time I did it always felt like walking through a waterfall in a tropic rainforest or taking a hot shower after a long day of hard work. You get the idea. It was a sensation I had experienced thousands of times, but after the first hundred or so instances I had stopped paying attention to it and focused instead on what lay at the other end of the bridge between worlds.

 _What kind of world would it be this time?_ I'd wonder.

Another one overtaken by a zombie apocalypse? A dystopian cyberpunk future? A medieval fantasy land where magic and mythical creatures are part of everyday life? How about one where everyone speaks in song lyrics thus negating the existence of all types of musical groups that focus on singing?

Been there, done all of that.

But it wasn't just the world itself that I wondered about, it was what kind of dangers, villains and other threats I would soon meet upon my arrival, yet the thought of facing them never scared me.

No matter the foe, they all fell before me eventually. All my enemies did.

The few defeats I suffered during the early days of my journey only served to make me stronger and wiser in the long run. Now my powers had reached their full, limitless potential, and I will keep using them for their one, true intended purpose: to defeat all manner of evil that crosses my path and uphold the virtues of truth, justice, peace, freedom and hope for all who cry out for it.

My faith in my purpose hadn't let me down yet, and it never will.

Passing through the portal was instantaneous, only requiring a single step, but it always felt longer than that. Half of my mind filled with more and more excitement over what lay beyond, while the other half repeated a nagging question that had plagued me for centuries.

 _Would this new world be my last?_

So far, the answer had been "no" each and every time.

Finally, I crossed the threshold and entered what looked like a large alley in some kind of town or city at night. The portal closed behind me as soon as I was on the other side, forever cutting me off from the universe I just came from.

"Another successful trip," came a familiar voice from my bracelet.

I lifted my right arm and the cloaking shield on it dissipated, revealing the crystalline device on my wrist. A small section of it highlighted blue before the projection of a small human woman with blue skin and her darker blue hair done up in a pixie-cut. Her "clothes" consisted of a button-up shirt, dress pants and matching jacket combo topped off with heels.

She was the **O** ptimal **L** ife-Saving **I** ntelligence that **V** igorously **I** nspires **A** ction or OLIVIA for short. Most of the time, though, I just called her "Liv".

"Just like all the others," I replied with a smile.

"Yep and my readings show that the atmosphere is rich in oxygen and nitrogen, but also other gasses and compositions I don't recognize. Interesting."

"Well, have fun analyzing them; I'm gonna explore."

"Don't forget to change," she teased before vanishing back into the omni-tool, which then cloaked itself again.

I shook my head mirthfully before I set about swapping my current attire for my more casual one. Thanks to the hyper-advanced technology of the omni-tool, I could deconstruct my clothing down to its very molecules and then reconstruct them in any shape I chose, and out of any material. From the outside, it appeared as though my costume had completely transformed into light before it began to change shape. My cape disappeared completely in the process, and barely a second later the light died down to reveal my new clothes.

It was my favorite outfit to wear for when I first arrived in another universe: a simple red t-shirt beneath a blue jacket, jeans, and brown hiking shoes. Perfect for blending in as a civilian when I wanted to get a good first look at a new Earth or some other word. The jacket, however, had the iconic symbol of my namesake on display on the back, and as such, it was one of my favorite fashion choices.

I stuffed my hands into the pockets and made my way out of the alley, turning right when I reached the sidewalk and walking a few more steps before stopping to look at my reflection in a large window. I ran a hand through my brown hair a couple of times, always liking the look and feel of it when it was buzzed. But then I focused on the blue eyes staring back at me and leaned in, rubbing my hand across my chin out of habit as I analyzed my own appearance.

 _Hmm, over seven hundred years later and you still look like you belong in high school._

Sighing, I stepped back from the glass, but before I could restart my trek something caught my eye above my reflection. The window was big enough that I could see the late night sky reflected in it. I didn't recognize any of the stars, their patterns or constellations, a telltale sign that maybe this wasn't an alternate Earth, but another planet altogether. Further evidence lending credence to theory was the appearance of the moon, also on display.

In all its shattered glory.

 _Wait, what?_

I spun around and gazed up at the damaged celestial body. It wasn't just the fact that it was severely damaged, but the _shape_ of it is what got to me. While most of it remained spherical and intact, the (visual) right side looked like somebody took a giant sledgehammer to it. The dozen or so fragments that had broken off remained held in the moon's gravity, giving the whole thing a very ominous look and feel.

 _But where have I seen it before?_

I racked my brain trying to find the answer but ultimately decided to just take a breather and calm my thoughts. One of the many benefits of having a superhuman brain was that I never really forgot anything, rather my memories were just filed away for me to access at any time, so I looked for anything related to what I was seeing, and only one thing stood out.

 _Could it really be?_

I sped to the nearest rooftop and began searching this way and that until I saw it. Way off in the distance, across a vast lake, stood a vast and prestigious school, appearing as a massive castle from where I stood. Its tallest tower emitted a warm green light that illuminated the dark, a beacon that all could look to for courage and inspiration.

"Beacon Academy," I breathed out, too stunned to say anything else.

It all came back to me in that moment.

If that was Beacon Academy, then that meant that this was the Kingdom of Vale, and if I was in Vale, that meant that I was on the planet Remnant, home to both humans and faunus, huntsman and huntresses, Dust and creatures of Grimm. All of these were aspects of a show I hadn't seen since before I first crossed over into another universe, and the realization that I was now standing on the home to my favorite web series back home hit me like a supernova.

 _Wait a minute. If Beacon is still standing, then how early am I in the timeline?_

I then closed my eyes and focused my super-hearing, scanning the whole city for any sort of audio cues that could give me insight to when exactly I had arrived, and I got one right away.

"I said, 'put your hands in the air', now!"

"Are you…robbing me?"

"Yes!"

"Oh…"

My eyes shot open.

 _No freaking way._

I zoomed off in the direction of the voices, pinpointing their location several blocks away, arriving at my destination in just under one second. Once I was close enough, I stopped a little ways down the street from where they were and arrived just in time to see a man in a black suit get drop-kicked out a window by a certain teenaged girl wearing a red cloak. Both tumbled into the street, the girl going a little farther than her victim did, but that didn't seem to bother her. I watched in awe and she slowly got up and unfolded a weapon twice her size across her shoulder before turning in the direction of the window and smirking.

I almost couldn't believe it. There, fifty feet away from me, was Ruby Rose, the main character of RWBY in the flesh, twirling her signature scythe around like a boss. I couldn't bring myself to move as I watched her tear apart three more thugs that ran out of the building to attack her. Her movements were so fluid, not to mention brutal, as she disposed of her enemies with ruthless precision, smacking them around with the blunt side of Crescent Rose until all three were unconscious on the ground, all in the span of fifteen seconds.

During the chaos, however, the leader of the thugs had stepped out onto the sidewalk to spectate the beatdown. Clad in a white coat and bowler hat, carrying a cane and referring to the young heroine as "Red", it could only have been one person: Roman Torchwick.

He made a statement to her about having to "part ways" just as the sound of police sirens reached everybody's ears. He then fired an explosive round at her from out of his cane that she dodged by using her scythe to launch herself into the air like a rocket. But by the time she hit the ground again, Roman was already halfway up a ladder leading to another rooftop across the street. I considered going after him, but then I noticed the thugs getting back up and about to make a break for it.

 _Yeah, no._

Time slowed to a crawl as I got to work. First, I disarmed them by snatching their short-swords and guns and crushed them all into a ball of mismatched metal. Then I proceeded to remove all of their coats one by one and tie them together in a makeshift rope. And finally, I put them all into a group and lassoed them up, watching in amusement as realization dawned on their faces.

"Hey, what the hell?"

"What happened?"

"Who's that guy?"

I merely smirked before delivering a super-speed enhanced slap to each of their faces, knocking them out cold. But before I got the chance to admire my work I heard the sound of screeching tires, followed by doors opening and closing and then rapid footsteps. I turned to watch several men and women in various dress suits brandishing their firearms as the spread out across the crime scene, two checking on the unconscious thugs while several more entered the dust shop to search the place and speak to the owner.

"Hey kid," said a voice behind me. I turned to see a man wearing sunglasses approach me before stopping to reach into his pocket and retrieve his badge. "Officer Green, Vale PD. Mind telling me what happened here?"

"Sure thing," I gestured toward the unconscious criminals as the two officers worked to undo their bindings. "These four gentlemen plus their leader attempted to rob this dust shop, but a young girl chose to fight them off just as I arrived. She chased the leader to a nearby rooftop while I restrained these perpetrators."

BOOM

The sound of an explosion turned my attention toward the top of the building where Ruby had chased Roman to, and that was when I decided to get moving again.

"Excuse me officer, but I need to go."

I took one step before Green moved to stand in front of me, one hand held out in front of him to stop me from going any further.

"Whoah, hang on kid. Where you goin'?"

"I'm going up there to help them," I replied, pointing up at my destination.

"Sorry kid, but you're comin' wit us; we got a few more questions we'd like to ask."

"But…"

"Don' worry about it. Besides, we already got a huntress up dere. She'll handle this."

I looked and saw several flashes of purple light, followed by the sound of thunder and more explosions.

 _Glynda._

I clenched my fist because if Glynda was here, that meant that _she_ was as well. Now more than ever I wanted to charge up there, but then I saw Green place his other hand on the grip of his holstered firearm.

"Please kid, don' make this any harder."

I could've just ignored him and went on my way, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was raised to respect all manner of authority and those in such a position. Besides, I'd only just gotten here; the last thing I wanted was to send a bad message right off the bat. So, in the end, I let out a long sigh and then held out my hands.

"Very well then, do your thing."

Green seemed genuinely surprised that I chose to obey him. He then carefully retrieved a set of cuffs from his belt and latching them around my wrists. He then led me over to one of the police cars and directed me to sit in the back, which I did.

"Stay 'ere for a minute, alright?"

I nodded, and then he closed the door before turning to talk to another officer. From there I just sat in my seat, listening as the bullhead Roman and his "boss" used to escape got further and further away. So focused was I on that, however, that I barely registered the fact that the car door had opened again until I felt the seat next to me dip slightly.

Looking to my left, I saw Ruby sitting next to me, her wrists also bound before Glynda herself shut the door and walked away. Looking back down to Ruby as she sighed heavily, I decided to strike up a conversation to kill some time.

"So, no autograph, I take it?"

She spun around to look at me with wide eyes; I guess she didn't notice me at first what with being disappointed and all.

"Um, no? Wait, how did you even…?"

I lifted my hand and tapped my ear with my finger. "I have very good hearing."

"Oh, that's cool," her expression brightened for a brief moment, but feel soon after when she looked out the window again. "But you're right. I was only trying to help."

"Hey, don't feel bad," I assured as I followed her line of sight to see Glynda conversing with Officer Green. "Glynda Goodwitch is little strict for sure, but she's just doing her best to be a good huntress. Heck, the word "good" is literally part of her name."

Ruby turned back to me with a questioning look. "Do you know her?"

"Not personally," I confessed, and technically it was true. Everything I knew about Remnant and its people was due to having watched them all on a show they didn't even know existed. Which, when I thought about it, was a tad bit creepy on my part.

"You've just heard stories too?" Ruby asked.

"Yep."

"Are you a huntsman?"

"Nope, I just like helping people."

"Me too," she beamed before offering me her hand. "I'm Ruby. Nice to meet you."

I clasped my hand around hers a little awkwardly thanks to our cuffs, but we still managed to shake hands. "Kent Mason, right back at ya."

But right then Officer Green plopped down in the driver's seat, threw his seatbelt on and looked back at us. "I'm gonna take you kids down to da station. When we get dere you'll be free to contact your parents or whoever else you want. Got it?"

"Yessir." Ruby and I said together.

"Good."

Green turned the keys and then the car began moving. I noticed Glynda watching us leave with her scroll in hand, assuming she was informing her superior about tonight's events. I considered listening in on it, but then Ruby got my attention again.

"So Kent, why'd they arrest you?"

"Same reason as you, really," I shrugged. "When you went to chase after Roman, I stepped in to stop his goons from escaping. The police showed up right after, and now here I am."

"Wait," she gasped. "Did you say 'Roman'? As in 'Roman Torchwick'? The crime lord?"

"That's him. He broke out of prison not too long ago."

"Oooh," she squealed. "Yang's gonna be so jealous!"

"Yang?" I asked, even though I already knew who that was.

"My sister. She'll flip when she finds out I fought a criminal mastermind!" Then she slumped over again. "But when my dad finds out I'll probably be grounded for a while."

"Hey, don't let that getcha down," I nudged her playfully. "You did well tonight. I think he would be proud."

"Maybe. I just want to be a hero like the ones in all the stories I've read. That's why I want to go to Beacon Academy like my sister is, but I'm too young."

"Why should that be a problem?" She looked at me quizzically. "Let me tell you something Ruby: no matter how old you are, you never know when the thing you want most may cross your path when you least expect it."

She looked away briefly to process what I just said. "I don't get it."

"Don't worry; I think you will soon."

"Is your semblance predicting the future or something?"

"No," I chuckled at the irony of her question. "I'm just speaking from personal experience."

"Sounds like you've been through a lot."

"Mmmhmm, more than you know."

I went silent after that, the only sound I heard being the humming of the car's engine. We both resumed looking at the buildings as they passed by, my mind flashing to images of them crumbled while Grimm rampaged through the streets, but before I could dive too deep Ruby asked the big question.

"Well, now that you're here, have you thought about going to Beacon yourself?"

I stared at her incredulously for several moments, but then a smile pulled at my lips.

"You know what Ruby?" I turned away to gaze at Beacon Academy right as it came into view again. "That sound like a good idea."

My heart pounded from excitement and the prospect of attending Beacon and meeting all the people who lived there: Team JNPR, Team CFVY, Doctor Ooblek and Professor Port, and even Ozpin himself. He would soon be paying a visit to Ruby at the police station to offer her a chance to enroll at his school two years early. That would have been the opportune time to speak to him face to face.

And boy did I have a lot to tell him.

I only watched RWBY up until the end of the fourth volume, but that gave me more than enough information to know what was coming thanks to the machinations of Remnant's true threat, all of which would lead to the death of many innocents and the utter destruction of Beacon itself, and that's just for starters.

 _No, that would NOT happen. Not while I'm here._

Roman was just a pawn, as was his employer Cinder Fall, both of which slipped through my fingers mere moments ago; the true threat lied with their master, who remained hidden away from the rest of the world while her minions did her dirty work for her so she could avoid any potential blame, instead manipulating events so that the people of Remnant would point fingers at each other when things went south.

But the bad guys didn't know what I knew; they didn't even know I existed, and that gave me a whole slew of advantages over them. I knew where they'd be and when, who was working with them, what they were after, all of it, and was already forming a plan to stop them.

Now all I had to do was wait for Ozpin to show up to get it in motion.

"Alright kids, we're 'ere. Gimme a second."

Officer Green stopped the car in front of a building that had the same symbol as his badge on a sign out front. As I waited for him to finish talking to someone on his scroll, I felt something poking me in my upper back. I spun on Ruby who pulled her finger away out of embarrassment.

"I'm sorry. I was just curious; what does that symbol mean?"

I craned my neck to look at the red and yellow shield on the back of my jacket. "It's my moniker, my 'alter ego' as it were."

"Alter ego? Like a superhero?'

"Exactly."

"Awesome!" She bounced in her seat excitedly. "What's your hero name?"

I smiled proudly, always looking forward to telling people my other name, the one I spent centuries doing my best to live up to. The name that inspired hope in the hearts of the afflicted, and terror in the hearts of evildoers.

The greatest hero of all time.

"Superman."

 **A/N** :

Well, here we are. Chapter 1. What do you think?

Please leave a comment/review. Constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated.

'Till next time.


	3. Get the Ball Rolling

I sat there in the cool, dark confines of the interrogation room, the only source of illumination being the single white light overhead casting its glow upon the table where a single black coffee cup sat, the hot liquid inside having gone lukewarm some time ago. I'd spent enough times in police custody to know the real reason they offered it to me, and I didn't feel like giving them a sample of my DNA this time around. Not that it'd do much anyway considering I wasn't a native to their universe, and I seriously doubted they had anything on file even close to resembling my unique genetic code and biology.

Next to the coffee cup was a notebook and a pencil. The officer gave it to me to write down my statement about what occurred at the Dust Shop, and after I finished, I asked him if I could keep it in case there were any details I missed or in case I got bored. It would come in handy in a few minutes.

Although the fact that there was absolutely no record of myself anywhere on Remnant was bound to cause some issues, so I had Liv keep the officials busy by diverting their attention to other, more important cases while she worked on planting my cover-story into their database.

So there I sat, leaning back in my seat with my arms crossed over my chest as I organized my thoughts in preparation for what was to come.

A few moments later I heard the door click open, and I looked up to see an officer lean in. "Here they are like you asked."

"Thank you," I told him.

He retreated back through the doorway to make room for the two people I wanted to see to step through. The first person, a blonde woman, strutted in with her purple cape swaying back and forth with each step. She stopped next to the chair on the other side of the table opposite of my own, and after adjusting her glasses slightly used her free hand to pull said empty chair out in preparation for her superior to sit in it.

Waltzing in dressed in his iconic black and green suit with a coffee mug in one hand and his cane in the other was Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy. He calmly took his seat across from me, setting his cane down against the edge of the table and leaning back to get comfortable. He locked eyes with me, his head dipped forward to get a better view over his spectacles as he studied me to get an idea of what he was dealing with.

Finally, after placing his mug on the table and lacing his fingers together, he spoke. "The officer said you requested to see both of us by name rather than your parents or a legal representative."

"That I did," I confirmed with a nod. I relaxed my arms and extended my hand toward him. "My name is Kent Mason. It's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Professor Ozpin."

He stared at my hand for a moment before gently grasping and shaking it. "Thank you Kent, but I cannot help but be curious as to why you asked to see Miss Goodwitch and me. I'm not sure we can be of much help to you considering your predicament."

"Well, truth be told, I didn't ask for a lawyer because I won't need one," He raised an eyebrow at my claim. "I'll spare you the finer details, but I must know something first: how's Ruby? She must've been very excited to get accepted into Beacon two years early, am I right?"

"How did you know?"

I silently tapped my ear in response, my answer clear.

Ozpin allowed himself a chuckle. "Yes, she was quite thrilled, and also mentioned you. You did a noble thing standing beside her against those thugs."

"It was my pleasure, sir."

It was then that I decided to stop fooling around and get down to business, and now that Liv had shut down the security cameras within the room and was keeping every officer in the building busy, now was the time.

"As for why I requested to see the two of you specifically, it wasn't because I need your help, per se. In truth, it was because I want to help you."

"With what, exactly?" Glynda asked.

"Your _seasonal_ issue."

My emphasis on the second word did not go unnoticed. Ozpin and Glynda gave a quick glance to each other before turning back to me.

"Exactly what are you referring to?" Ozpin asked as he lifted his mug to his lips once more, never taking his eyes off of me.

I reached for the notebook and pencil, and with speed that even he could barely track, drew a sketch before ripping off the page, folding it and then offering it to him. "This."

He carefully took the piece of paper and unfolded it, Glynda leaning in to get a good look for herself, and a few seconds later both their expressions shifted from curious to stunned, if not outright horrorstruck; sketched onto the paper was an extremely detailed image of a comatose Amber, scars and all, resting within the confines of her stasis pod beneath the Tower.

"Tell me, Professor Ozpin," I began with a grin, regaining their attention. "What is your favorite fairy tale?"

After a few moments of them staring at me with their mouths agape, Glynda reacted first, stomping over to my side of the table and placing her riding crop against my neck, a fierce scowl on her face all the while.

I wasn't fazed. "You'll be happy to know that I've taken steps to ensure nothing and nobody will catch wind of what goes on in this room."

"Quiet," She spat. "How do you know about..?"

"Glynda," Ozpin didn't even need to raise his voice to get her to stop. He gave her one look, and that was enough to make her lower her arm, although her grip on her weapon remained firm. Keeping his eyes boring into mine, he neatly refolded the paper and put it in his pocket before placing his hands back on the table and leaning forward. "Now, what exactly do you know?"

He wasn't messing around. His voice had an icy edge to it, kind of like unsheathing a sword from its scabbard. I had to admit, Serious-Ozpin was actually quite intimidating. But there was also a hint of disbelief in his tone, I mean after all, how could anyone outside his inner circle be aware of Amber's condition? The fact that I knew was enough to make me a potential threat, and he would do his best to end me if I posed a danger to his group's mission to protect the Maidens.

But I understood his anger and did my best to quell it with my answer.

"I know the identity of the assailant who stole half of her power and put her in this condition," I looked back at Glynda. "It was the same woman you got into a duel with earlier tonight, the one in the red dress who shot flames at you."

"You're certain?" Glynda asked, stunned.

"Absolutely," I turned back to Ozpin. "Her name is Cinder Fall."

He made a small gesture with his hand. "Go on."

"I also know who she works for, the identities of her associates, what she's planning and when, and I have the means to stop her," I then let out a sigh, rubbing my face with my palm. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that's all I can tell you right now, in public anyway."

Ozpin closed his eyes in contemplation. I admit I was nervous that he wouldn't believe me, or just write me off as delusional, but he then took a deep breath through his nostrils before his eyes lids parted. "Follow me."

He got up out of his chair, grabbed his cane and coffee mug, and made his way to the door. Glynda and I shared a quick look before she gestured for me to get up. I obliged, following after Ozpin with Glynda close behind me.

Ozpin grabbed the door handle, but before he turned it, I spoke up. "We're just going to walk out?"

"Yes."

He opened the door and stepped through, after which I merely shrugged and followed suit. The trip through the precinct was certainly an awkward one, as what few officers we came across on our way to the exit practically jumped out of the way when they realized they were in Ozpin's path. Glynda remained silent as she followed behind me; my guess was that this was her way of making sure I didn't try anything while Ozpin's back was turned.

Eventually, we made it out the front door and walked down the steps, but then I saw Ruby already at the bottom getting into what I assumed was her dad's car. She noticed me as she was climbing in and waved goodbye, a gesture I reciprocated before she took off.

 _See ya later, Ruby._

I then looked back at the building we just came from.

"You've got quite a reputation, I see," He didn't answer me, only standing silently on the sidewalk with his hands resting on his cane, so I looked to Glynda instead. "So I take it we're going to Beacon then, right?"

"Yes, we are," She confirmed.

"It's like you said," Ozpin started, finally turning to look at me. "This isn't a discussion suited for the public, and you have a lot of explaining to do."

"Gladly, and thanks for wanting to hear me out, at least," I then swept my vision and hearing across the area, and was relieved to find nobody potentially spying on us. "By the way, you might want to burn that picture ASAP just to be safe."

Ozpin seemed to agree as he retrieved the folded paper from his pocket, only to suddenly drop it when it somehow caught fire while he was holding it. He turned back to me just in time to see the faint red light of my heat vision fade from my eyes.

"Can't be too careful," I then noticed Glynda pacing. "Something the matter, Glynda?"

"Our transport appears to have vanished," She murmured.

It was then that our ride, a regular looking van apparently, arrived, parking in one of the several free spaces on the side of the road. Then the windows rolled down revealing…Professor Port in the driver's seat?

"Ah, forgive me Ozpin, but I wasn't sure how long you'd be, and when I grew hungry I remembered this sensational noodle restaurant down the street and…"

Ozpin held up a hand to silence him.

"It's quite alright, Peter. We were busy having a discussion with this young man, here." He gestured to me. "He will be accompanying us back to Beacon tonight."

"Oh ho, a potential student perhaps?"

I shrugged with a smile. "Hopefully."

"Well then, hop on in!"

My word, this guy's positive attitude was infectious; I couldn't help but smile at his boisterousness. I climbed into the back seat, Glynda placing herself next to me while Ozpin took the passenger seat up front. As the car began moving along, Port looked to me through the rear-view mirror.

"So who might you be, young lad?"

"Kent Mason. I just arrived in Vale earlier tonight."

"Hmm, what a most peculiar name. Did you grow up in one of the other kingdoms?"

It was subtle, but I saw Ozpin incline his head slightly to hear my response, intending to use Port's questions to gain more insight into my identity. I smirked at his "genre savviness," but decided to keep the more outrageous details of my origins withheld for the time being.

"I'm actually from outside the kingdoms."

Port's bushy eyebrows rose in shock. "Truly?"

"Yep. I grew up in a small town called Thornwood. Not a lot of people know about it."

"How did your hometown survive on its own against the Grimm, I wonder?" Ozpin spoke up. "You must have some highly skilled huntsmen and pretty hefty natural barriers defending your borders."

"That's one way of putting it," I chuckled.

"So what made you wish to attend Beacon over the other three schools?" Port returned to the conversation.

My smile grew wider. "I saw an opportunity to do some real good here and just couldn't waste it."

Ozpin gave a thoughtful hum while Glynda crossed her arms.

"Do you still have family back in Thornwood?" Port went on.

"I do: my parents, older brother and younger sister," I then frowned as I recalled their faces, a sense of heartache overtaking me for a moment. "Though I haven't spoken to them in many years. I've been traveling for a really long time; they don't even know where I am or what I've been up to. I…miss them."

Port paused. "Will you ever go back and see them again?"

I looked out the window, hesitating with my answer. "Maybe."

Nobody asked any more questions after that, the rest of the trip to Beacon Academy passing by in silence. I leaned on the armrest and looked out the window the rest of the way there, the other three adults in the vehicle not saying a word while I let my thoughts drift to my family and how they were faring in my absence. This continued for several minutes until Port made an announcement.

"We have arrived!"

I leaned forward in my seat and beheld Beacon Academy up close for the first time, the tall spires beneath the starry sky creating a truly mesmerizing sight. I couldn't wait to see it during the daytime.

"Please take us to the CCT, Peter. The three of us will conduct our business there."

"Right away."

I kept taking in the sights until we reached the Tower, the car pulling to a stop before Ozpin, Glynda and myself filed out. I craned my neck in order to see the top of the tower, the large green orbs above Ozpin's office shining brightly through the dark.

"Thank you, Peter," I heard Ozpin say.

"My pleasure, and Kent?" I tore my vision away from the Tower to see Port smiling at me through his mustache as he offered his hand. "Allow me to be the first to welcome you to our prestigious academy."

"Thanks, Professor," I took his hand in a firm shake. "I can't wait to get started."

"Then I wish you good luck and good night. Farewell."

As Port drove away, Ozpin bid me to follow him and Glynda into the tower, where we proceeded to enter the elevator. The ride up was awkward, to say the least: the two Beacon staff members were at either side of me, and I could hear Ozpin gripping his cane tightly in case I tried anything, Glynda doing the same with her crop. But I remained still as a statue until the door opened and we all stepped out. I kept walking until I reached the front of his desk where I waited patiently for Ozpin to sit down in his chair as Glynda took her place by his side.

"Now then," He began. "Let us pick up from where we left off, shall we?" His eyes narrowed. "I'll ask once more: what exactly do you know, Kent?"

I folded my arms across my chest and took a deep breath as I commanded the omni-tool to generate a suppression field around the room with a mere thought.

"I know that the true purpose of the huntsman academies is that each of them protects one of four relics left behind by the "gods" of light and darkness when they abandoned Remnant. I also know that the legend of the Four Maidens is true, that Amber the Fall Maiden is comatose beneath this very tower, and you two plus Qrow Branwen and James Ironwood are part of a secret society dedicated to protecting them and hiding their existence from the world.

This is where Cinder Fall comes in; it was Salem who gave her the means to steal half of Amber's power, and now she is here in Vale plotting to steal the rest by destroying Beacon itself on Salem's behalf. She's already gathered several highly skilled individuals to carry it out and you'll need more than your guardian and the silver eyes of one Ruby Rose if you want to stop them before it's too late."

Beads of sweat began to form on Ozpin's forehead as he and Glynda stared at me in open-mouthed shock. It was almost a full thirty seconds before the headmaster fell back in his chair.

"It seems our efforts to keep this matter hidden were not as secure as we thought," he murmured. "If what you say is true, then there is no time to waste; you must tell us everything you've learned."

"And I will," I then let out a long sigh. "But I'm afraid I must ask for something in return, first."

"This is not the time for negotiations!" Ozpin shouted as he slammed his hands onto the table and bolted up into a standing position.

"Ozpin," Glynda almost shouted. "Calm down. What makes you think he's even telling the truth, to begin with?"

She sent another glare my way while the Headmaster took another calming breath.

"I know that neither of you has a reason to trust me yet," I began again. "But that is exactly why I'm telling you all of this, to earn your trust. Salem cannot be allowed to win, and working together will make things a lot less complicated for everyone involved. But trust is a two-way street; if you provide what I need, I promise to give you full disclosure and my allegiance."

Ozpin and Glynda shared another look before turning back to me. "If you truly wish to stand with us, we will consider granting your requests. It just depends on what they are."

I held up two digits. "Two things: enrollment in your school as a student, and for Qrow to be present when I divulge my knowledge to you. He also deserves to know what I know."

"Why a student and not, say, a staff member?" Glynda asked. "You'll have more privileges with the second option."

I kept my gaze fixed on her superior. "Because as a student, I can keep close to your smaller, more honest soul and protect her and those closest to her from what's to come. They, too, will play a part."

Ozpin's eyes enlarged again.

"How...?" But he stopped himself. "Very well, then. Although as a student, I fully expect you to obey the laws of my school to the letter. No shortcuts or exceptions. Am I clear?"

"Crystal."

The Headmaster of Beacon then moved to stand before me, his 6'6 height surpassing mine by a mere three inches as he looked down at me for a moment before extending his hand.

"Then welcome to Beacon Academy, Kent Mason. I get the feeling this is going to be a most…unique partnership."

I smiled as we shook. "Indeed it will, and thank you for giving me this chance. Now then, how soon can Qrow get here?"

"Glynda and I will contact him tonight. Once he's informed that this is a 'Maiden Matter,' he'll get here as fast as he can, most likely after the initiation for the first-years in three days' time." He pointed a finger at me. "I expect you to be present for both the initiation and the meeting."

I grinned excitedly. "Count on it. We'll also have to inform the General at some point, but I've got that covered."

"We'll discuss that at a later time. Now about your sleeping arrangements…"

I held up my hand and cut him off. "I appreciate the offer, Professor, but there will be no need for that tonight. I don't actually need sleep unless I consciously choose to do so."

Glynda approached us. "But what will you do for the rest of the night, then?"

"Well, I was thinking of just exploring Beacon."

Ozpin gave me a skeptical look. "So you're going to just…walk around the premises aimlessly until the sun comes up?"

"Yeah, pretty much," I shrugged. "With your permission, of course."

"…Very well," he relented. "Just know that we will have cameras watching your every move."

"I understand, and thanks again. Good night, Professors."

And with a bow, I deactivated the suppression field, returned to the elevator and took it to the bottom floor. I walked down the front steps but then took flight to the very top of the tower, floating a few inches above the tip of its highest point and gazing across the vast expanse of the Kingdom.

"Well, it looks like the ball's rolling now, isn't it?" Liv spoke up from my bracelet.

I lifted my wrist and her small projection appeared above it. "Eyyup. Ready to get back to work?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and grinned. "I thought you'd never ask."

I gave her a smile before looking out across Vale and beyond it, Liv doing the same. We both knew that Cinder and her cohorts were out there, as was her boss, plotting against all of Remnant and relishing in their supposed impending victory.

 _That was before we showed up._

I then spoke a message out loud, some part of me believing that the wind would carry it across the land and reach the ears of its target, my newest enemy.

"You're done. All of your plans, your schemes, your sick desire to watch the world burn and take away mankind's hope, it's over. You see, I live for this, to save people and destroy evil wherever it may be, and you just made it to the very top of my hit list. You aren't the first would-be destroyer of mankind I've faced, and you certainly won't be the last, for you'll share the same fate as all the rest of them did: I will use each and every ounce of my power to _**end**_ you and wipe your stain clean off the face of this planet, and my power _has no limit_.

So send your Grimm; I will slaughter them all like the savage beasts they are. Send your pawns; I will grind them to dust as I make my way to you. Conceal yourself in darkness and I will shine light into the shadows until you have nowhere left to hide. Your arrogance will be your downfall, and after you're gone and Remnant is finally free of your evil, you'll become nothing more than a bad memory in the hearts and minds of every man, woman, and child on this planet for ages to come. This is the beginning of the end for you, Salem…"

"And we can't wait to watch you _burn,_." Liv finished for me.

"Amen." Her image then faded away as I lowered myself back to the ground and began my tour of the Academy, hosted by yours truly.

 **A/N** :

Funny thing, this was the first scene I came up with, so I wrote this chapter first a long while ago.

Thank you so much for such a positive response so quickly. I'll keep this up.

Please leave a comment/review. Constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated.

'Till next time.


	4. The Shining Beacon

At dawn the following morning, Glynda tracked me down to escort me to a temporary living quarters for me to stay in until the students arrived, which also happened to be in view of Ozpin's office in the tower. When I asked her why, she explained rather bluntly that she and Ozpin didn't like the idea of me just wandering around without supervision at night, which made sense to me. However, while she was talking I located several cameras and microphones hidden in various places all over the room and retrieved them in the span of a blink. When she finished speaking I presented them to her before crushing them all to powder in my hands, startling her.

I understood that they were still wary of me, but that didn't mean I was going to completely forfeit my privacy.

She contacted Ozpin immediately after I'd done the deed, informing him of what transpired. The headmaster was displeased, for sure, but was willing to make a compromise. So for the next three days, I shadowed Glynda as she reported to each of the other staff members to check on their progress in preparing the school for the student's arrival. This gave me a chance to meet with some of the teachers, like Port and Doctor Ooblek (who was very happy to hear me address him as such), and even Professor Peach, and given the fact that we never saw her in-person during the first four volumes of the show, I felt genuinely honored to meet her, but more on her later.

Glynda assigned me various tasks pertaining to what each of the teachers needed to get done, from organizing textbooks alphabetically to more mundane things like sweeping and mopping the floors, the speed, and efficiency at which I accomplished these things stunning them all.

At the end of each day, Glynda would escort me back to my room before leaving to go meet with Ozpin personally and report on her observations of my activities, the real reason why I was partnered up with her. I didn't mind, though; her reports were always positive, if not a bit amusing when she described my feats of speed and supply management with such awe. My alone time then gave me and Liv a chance to go over each and every speck of information about RWBY (the show) to work on our plan to bring Cinder and Salem down.

Oh yeah, I should probably mention that; I downloaded the first four seasons of the show and all the available info from the wiki onto my omni-tool during my visit to an alternate Earth that was very similar to mine, minus a few key differences.

One of them being that Monty was still alive there.

R.I.P. you magnificent man.

Anyway, on the day when the students were meant to show up, I was reading in the library late in the morning, engrossed in a history book about Remnant's Great War. History was one of my two favorite subjects in school, the other being English, and some of my favorite historical periods to study were, in fact, war times. Not because I'm a sadist or anything, but because I enjoy learning the stories of the brave souls who gave everything they had fighting for what they believe in, even if they were on the wrong side.

But back to the book. I was halfway through the section detailing the minor skirmishes that occurred at the halfway point in the conflict when I suddenly heard Glynda approaching. I had already memorized her heartbeat and figured it was her without even looking, so I set my book down and stood up from the table.

"Morning Glynda," I greeted as I turned around to face her. "How can I help you?"

"I was told to inform you that the first-year students have just arrived," she explained. "They are gathering in the auditorium for Ozpin's introduction, and you are to join them."

A frustrated frown then crossed her face. "Of course, I would have been saved the trouble of walking all the way down here if not for…"

"Right; no scroll."

"Yes. We would appreciate it if you would rectify that as soon as possible."

"Trust me, I will. But first..."

I turned away from Glynda and activated my x-ray and telescopic vision. The walls became transparent in my sight as I zeroed in on the docks where the airships were just taking off after depositing their cargo: the first-years. But by that point, the docks had almost completely cleared off except for two individuals: Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee. The sight of the two of them made me smile, but then I noticed something.

Weiss was angrily waving a bottle of red dust around while clearly shouting something at the little red reaper, her actions causing said dust to leak from its container and accumulate in-between her and Ruby in the form of a cloud. Ruby then made the mistake of breathing the cloud in through her nose and was now about ready to sneeze.

"Uh-oh. Gotta go, Glynda."

"Wh-?"

WHOOSH

I didn't give her a chance to finish as I sped towards the docks, eager to see Ruby again as well as meet **the** Weiss Schnee in person. Although considering the attitude she was now in, I was a little concerned about how she'd react to my first impression. In the end, though, I decided that it wasn't really important enough to get worked up over, and besides, I still had a disaster to avert.

Priorities, ya know?

By the time I got there everything appeared to be frozen in place due to how fast I was moving. I could see Ruby literally half a second away from sneezing and setting off the dust cloud, Weiss glaring at her and completely oblivious to what was about to happen.

I noticed the cases of dust still strewn about Ruby's feet and decided to deal with those first. I quickly stacked them neatly on the trolley one by one and then pushed it a safe distance away, but that's when I noticed none other than Blake Belladonna with her nose stuck in a book as she walked towards the Ice Flower Duo. I cast a quick glance up to the bow on her head and sighed before getting back to the task at hand. Next thing I did was take the bottle of red dust out of Weiss' hand and then move her behind Ruby, and at that point, everything seemed to be in place to avoid any potential problems.

But then I decided to have a bit of fun.

I had noticed Jaune standing idly by watching the whole debacle, his attention focused mainly on Weiss (c'mon dude). Shaking my head I grabbed hold of his shoulders and then began slowing myself down until time resumed at a normal pace, at least from my perspective.

"AA-CHOO!"

BOOM

The dust cloud ignited in a dazzling display of fire, ice, and lightning, and when it had dissipated into a harmless cloud of smoke, I moved Jaune so he was standing in the midst of it. I then stood back and watched as Ruby opened her eyes and saw not a white-haired girl standing in front of her, but a very confused scraggly-haired blonde guy.

"Oh my gosh," she gasped. "I turned you into a boy!"

 _Heh heh heh._

"Wh-what?" Jaune stammered. "No, I've always been one."

"I'm right here," Weiss said, causing Ruby to turn around.

"Huh?" She looked back and forth between Weiss and Jaune, trying to process what had just occurred. "B-but…what…how…?"

"It was me," I said at last.

All three of them turned to look at me at once as I waved "hello". When Weiss saw me her gaze became questioning, Jaune was mildly surprised, but Ruby smiled and ran over to me.

"Kent," she beamed. "You got accepted into Beacon!"

"Yep, and so did you. Congrats," I held out my fist so she could bump hers against it.

"Excuse me?"

It was then that Weiss strut on over to us, Ruby moving out of the way to give her room to walk right up to me. She narrowed her eyes as she studied me, while I looked down at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you telling me that you were the one behind that switcheroo?" She asked while pointing behind herself.

"Yes, I was," I answered.

"How did you do that?" Ruby inquired with a tilt of her head.

"I'm also very, very fast Ruby," I then looked past Weiss to see Jaune still covered with a thin layer of soot. "Sorry if I startled you, man; I just wanted to make a little joke. You weren't in any danger, I promise."

"N-no no, it's alright," he said before he began brushing himself off. "It's just…that was the last thing I expected to happen today, let alone being called a girl."

Ruby and I shared a laugh at that, but Weiss' shouting stopped us prematurely.

"Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"

Ruby shrank away and pushed her fingertips together. "I'm really, really sorry."

"Ugh, you complete dolt! What're you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"

"Well, I-I…"

Okay, I know Weiss has a heart of gold underneath and all that, but I wasn't going to let her get away with being so condescending when she wasn't completely in the right either.

"Aren't you being hypocritical calling her that?" I growled at her.

She and Ruby both turned to me, both of them surprised at my accusation, Weiss especially. A moment later she scowled at me, her icy blue eyes filled with a steadily growing fury, but I remained unmoving.

"What did you just say?"

"I said you're being a hypocrite," I then lifted the vial of red dust for her to see. "YOU were the one hauling dust around in unmarked cases, and then you just decide to pull one out and wave it around in an angry tirade? The seal on this one is broken, by the way. Did you even check before you stored it? Ruby should've been more aware of her surroundings, sure, but YOU should've been more mindful of people's safety, Weiss."

She stared at me mouth agape, trying her best to work her jaw to no avail. After a few seconds though, she sneered and pulled out Myrtenaster, pointing the tip at my throat.

"How dare you say that to me?! Do you even know who you're dealing with?!"

 _Heh heh heh._

Faster than anyone nearby could notice, I snatched her weapon from her hand and pointed it at her instead. By the time she realized what happened, she was shocked to see that the tables had turned and recoiled when she noticed that the tip was half an inch away from her jugular.

"Do you?" I warned.

Ruby looked back and forth between us worriedly and felt compelled to break the ice. "Um, sorry but…'Weiss' who?"

"Weiss Schnee," came a new voice, that of Blake who finally decided to join us. I didn't turn to look at her as she walked over, neither did Weiss. "Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

Weiss finally looked away from me to roll her eyes. "Finally, some recognition."

 _Seriously? Your own sword is pointed at your throat and that's what you're focused on?_

"The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

Weiss scowled once again while Ruby let out an audible "Oh", but that was when two men in suits (Weiss' assistants I assumed) came rushing over with panicked looks on their faces.

"Miss Schnee," one of them almost yelled. "What is going on here? Are you alright?"

Weiss opened her mouth to speak, but I beat her to it, turning towards them with a smile while Ruby, Blake, and Jaune all observed with baited breath.

"Forgive me for frightening you gentlemen, but Miss Schnee and I were merely resolving a minor altercation."

"A minor altercation?"

"Yes," I then turned back to the heiress and stared right into her eyes. "I was simply demonstrating that this isn't your typical combat school; it's not just sparring and practice. We're here to fight monsters of all kinds, not just the Grimm, so she should be mindful of whatever crosses her path and think before she reacts. It would save her a lot of trouble."

A beat of silence followed before I pulled Myrtenaster back, flipped it around, and offered her its handle. Weiss looked back and forth between me and her weapon before scoffing and yanking it from my hand before storming off. Everyone watched her go, and then I made sure to toss the dust vial to one of the suits before they took off after her, one of them making sure to grab the trolley and bring it with them.

"I promise I'll make this up to you," Ruby called after the heiress, receiving no response. "I guess I'm not the only one having a rough day. So…what's…?"

She turned to see Blake walking away as well, and so promptly collapsed to her knees before falling onto her back.

"Welcome to Beacon," she moaned.

Jaune took the opportunity to approach her and offered his hand. "Hey, I'm Jaune."

She took it and allowed him to pull her up. "Ruby. Oh, and this is my new friend Kent."

"Nice to meet you, Jaune," I greeted before we shook hands, and when we finished Ruby let out a giggle.

"I'm sorry," she said to the knight. "But aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"

 _Heh heh heh._

(X)

 **En route to the auditorium…**

A few minutes later we were walking along a winding road next to a river. Jaune was going on about the seriousness of motion sickness while Ruby listened, and I was simply content to watch them interact. Having a front row seat to something like watching two beloved not-so-fictional characters simply talk was a privilege not to be taken lightly. It was at times like these where I had to refrain from geeking out and making things awkward.

The two were now in the process of presenting their iconic weapons, and I suppressed a chuckle when Jaune fumbled with his collapsible shield. I then helped guide them to the auditorium once it became clear that they had no real idea where they were going. But right as I was about to follow them inside, I felt a pulse travel up my arm to my head, a signal that Liv wanted to speak with me.

"Oh, sorry guys, I just remembered that I had to go speak to my friend really quick. I'll see ya in a sec."

Ruby gave me a thumbs up before she and Jaune disappeared into the crowd. When they were gone I sped off to the nearest tree and hid behind it, and after making sure that the coast was clear I raised my bracelet to eye level.

"'Sup, Liv?"

She materialized above my wrist. "Oh, nothing much. Just thought I'd let you know that while you were making friends and messing around I took the liberty of solving your little scroll problem."

My face lit up; Liv was just awesome like that, always working in the background and coming up with quick solutions to problems while I was busy being a hero.

"Awesome. What d'ya got?"

"Hold out your other hand."

I obliged, and then a river of energy particles flowed out of the omni-tool before coalescing above my left palm. The shape they took on was small and rectangular, and a few seconds later a transparent device with two solid white grips on either end came into being before falling into my open hand.

"Hmm, light as a feather," I observed. I turned it over and pressed the yellow diamond on one side to switch it on, a white S-shield greeting me on the screen.

"And as hard as kryptonium-reinforced dragon scales," Liv added, crossing her arms smugly.

"What about the software?"

"It contains all the basic features you'd find in such a device here in this world, but beneath that lies a veritable web of quantum entanglement that, from my estimates, no soul on Remnant will be able to crack."

"Nice," I commended her as I pocketed the device inside my jacket. "At least Oz and Glynda will be happy."

"Indeed. Now," she then shooed me away with a flick of her hand. "Away with you; you don't want to be late."

"Am I ever?"

"Occasionally."

I made a face, she stuck her tongue out at me, and we both shared a laugh before she dived back into her home and I ran back to the auditorium. Just like earlier, I was moving so fast that everyone else appeared frozen in place as I made my way through the crowd. Unlike in the actual episode, though, each and every student looked like an actual person instead of a human-shaped black mass. I got so invested in admiring the unique details pertaining to every individual, from armor sets to hair colors and styles, that I barely avoided bumping into a golden-armored girl with scarlet red hair and…green…eyes…

Holy crap.

"Pyrrha."

She stood there with one hand on her hip and looking at Jaune from a distance, a look of clear interest in her eyes. And poor Vomit Boy was busy focusing solely on the Ice Queen as she was in the middle of arguing with Ruby again. Looking back to the prodigy, my mind replayed all the events leading to her tragic end, the image of an arrow lodged in her chest at the forefront as the same question repeated over and over again.

" _Do you believe in destiny?"_

My teeth and fists clenched at the thought of what happened after that moment, of the woman responsible for ending her life way too soon. But just when my eyes began to heat up, I took a deep, calming breath before leaning down to speak something into her ear as non-creepily as possible. She wouldn't be able to hear it, but that didn't make it any less important for me to say.

"You. Will. Live. I promise."

I then walked away and moved to stand behind Weiss, having a good idea what she was going on about. Once I was in position, I dropped back down to normal speed and waited for the fireworks to go off.

"…and talk about cute boys, like tall, blonde and scraggly over there!"

She pointed her thumb over her shoulder, expecting only Jaune to be standing back there instead of yours truly. Ruby's eyes widened when she saw me; from her point of view, I probably looked like I literally appeared out of nowhere. When her eyes widened I gave her a wink, at which point she covered her mouth with her hands to stifle a giggle.

"What is so funny?" Weiss demanded.

Ruby let out a snort before pointing behind the heiress. "I think you might want to look again."

Weiss scoffed and turned around, only to come face-to-face with me, causing her to let out a small yelp in response.

"You?!"

"Me," I smirked.

Before she could get another word out, however, the screech of a microphone activating coupled with the sound of someone clearing their throat drew everyone's attention to the stage, where Ozpin was preparing to give his introductory speech with Glynda beside him.

"I'll…keep this brief," he began as he adjusted his glasses.

Weiss took that pause as a chance to step away from me, even if it meant standing closer to Ruby who gave her a friendly smile that she rolled her eyes at.

"You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction…"

There was something in Ozpin's tone that made it seem as though the mere act of saying that made him weary and tired. My theory was that after training up so many huntsmen and huntresses only for them to either die or lose their way (Team STRQ at the forefront), the weight was taking its toll.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

I interpreted that as a challenge to the students to "go above and beyond" as my mother would always say. Even as Ozpin stepped off the stage, he managed to single me out in the crowd and lock eyes with me. All I gave him was a nod and then he disappeared behind a door leading out of the auditorium. By that point Glynda had finished informing the students of where they'd be sleeping for the night, and as they filed out, I pulled out my scroll thinking I'd be funny to call Glynda and let her know I had one now and see her reaction, but then I noticed Glynda approaching with a serious look on her face.

"Hey, Glynda. I was just about to go see if any of the students needed help moving their stuff to the ballroom."

"See that you do." I nodded and turned to leave, but her voice stopped me in my tracks. "Kent?"

"Something the matter?"

"I just wanted to make something clear before you ran off again."

"Shoot."

She crossed her arms and her glare intensified. "This information you're carrying had better be worth our time. Don't make Ozpin and I regret trusting you."

"It will, and I won't; you have my word," I declared as I turned around fully to face her. "But I am curious as to why you two were so quick to even give me a chance at all, really."

"Ozpin and our colleagues have gone to great lengths to keep what you know hidden from the world. _What_ you know matters to us just as much as _how_ you know it, as well. We are very much looking forward to your explanation."

"So am I," I chuckled, causing her to narrow her eyes even further. "I'll be going now."

WHOOSH

After I left, Glynda huffed before straightening her skirt and tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that," she murmured, but then she heard her scroll ring and answered it. She recoiled when she saw my grinning face on the screen.

"You will eventually, it just takes a while."

"W-what…how," she stammered.

"Also, I just texted you my number right before this. Please make sure to share it with Ozpin. Peace out."

I waved goodbye and then the screen went blank after that. All Glynda could do was stare at her reflection in surprise for several moments, wondering how I managed to procure a scroll so quickly and how I got her number. When she composed herself she growled at how frustrating I was being before stomping away, probably to meet up with Ozpin again but fuming all the while.

I thought it best to avoid her the rest of the day for both our sakes.

(X)

 **Ballroom, later that night…**

After everyone had gotten settled, the staff served everyone dinner in the cafeteria before we were told to retire for the evening and save our energy for tomorrow. While the other first years were setting up their sleeping bags and pillows, I retreated to the nearest bathroom so I could shower and then change into my sleepwear: a simple pair of plaid cotton pants and a white t-shirt. Now I was resting my back against the base of one of the large windows watching the students mingle about, but then I heard a commotion off to the side.

"What in the world is going on over here?! Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?"

"Oh, not you again!"

"Shh! Guys, she's right! People are trying to sleep!"

The last one was undoubtedly Ruby's voice. I gazed across the room to try and sneak a peek of her and her future team bickering back and forth, but then my scroll rang again. It was a text from Ozpin checking up on me, so I quickly answered back.

-Evening Ozpin. How was your day?-

-Interesting to say the least. Glynda gave me the number to your new scroll, although I find it odd that you were able to procure one so quickly despite never leaving the school grounds. Care to explain?-

-Yes; I had my friend make it for me.-

-Who?-

-Her name is Olivia; she's my partner and traveling companion.-

-Strange how you didn't mention her earlier.-

-She likes to keep a low profile, but know that she will be an invaluable asset to taking down the Queen and her pawns, and I will introduce you to her at the upcoming meeting. You gave me a chance, but she needs one too.-

It took him an extra moment to reply, which he no doubt used to consider my words.

-Fine. Qrow will be here the day after tomorrow. Be ready.-

-I always am.-

"Excuse me."

The voice was soft, friendly and undoubtedly feminine, and one that I recognized instantly. A twang of nervousness shot through my stomach at meeting her in person for the first time as she was one of my favorite characters from the show, but I swallowed it down. Quickly pocketing my scroll, I turned to her with a friendly smile and prepared to say "hello".

But my breath was stolen away at the sight of her.

It was one thing to see the RWBY characters as 3D models for a web series, it was something else entirely to see them in-person with actual physical bodies. From what I'd seen so far, their likenesses carried over from their animated counterparts and were even somewhat amplified now that they were flesh and blood: Ruby was still adorable, Weiss was admittedly very pretty, and Blake was striking in a sort of dark and mysterious way.

Yang Xiao Long, however, was absolutely beautiful, and as I took in her visage time appeared to slow down again, except I wasn't using my super speed.

The first thing I noticed was her long, shapely and bare legs that led up to a pair of tight black boyshorts. Above that I could see her exposed midriff, naval included, and next up was her orange tank top that concealed her voluptuous breasts. Her hands were resting on her hips, allowing me to see how toned her arms were, just like the rest of her body. All of it was framed by her long, flowing and golden hair, but the moment my eyes locked with her lilac ones, I was instantly captivated and found it very difficult to look away.

"H-hey," I managed to get out, shaking my head to regain my focus. "What's up?"

"Your name is Kent, right?" I nodded. "I'm Yang, Ruby's big sister."

"Oh yeah, " I said, feigning surprise. "She mentioned you."

"Yup. She also mentioned how you stood up for her against Ice Queen over there." She pointed over her shoulder at Weiss who was almost done tucking herself in. And then, without warning, the blonde bombshell plopped down next to me and made herself comfortable. "I just wanted to say thanks. Normally it's my job to watch out for her but I appreciate you going out of your way like that."

"N-no problem," I raised my hands in defense. "And I don't plan on taking your place; I just like helping people."

"That's neat," she then glared in the heiress's direction again. "I just wish some people were more appreciative."

"Don't be too mad at her; she's just got a lot on her plate with her company and reputation and whatnot."

 _And getting away from her awful father._

But when Yang turned back to me, there was a sparkle of mirth in her eyes, and her smile was back again, but bigger than before. I had seen this expression on people plenty of times already to know that she had cooked up some sort of joke or teasing remark in her head, something involving me and Weiss.

 _This ought to be good._

"Y'know, she began playfully. "With the way you two interact, some would think that you have a thing for each other but don't want to admit it."

"Oh c'mon, really?" She started giggling. "Look, Weiss is cool and all…" She laughed even harder, wrapping her arms around her stomach. "No pun intended! Look, my point is that she simply isn't my type."

She finally pulled herself out of her reverie and wiped a small tear from her eye.

"Well if you're not into silver-haired brats with sticks up their butts, then what is your type?"

"Blondes," I blurted out.

I said it sincerely and quickly, so quickly, in fact, that it took me a moment to realize what I'd done before my eyes widened in horror at what just came out of my mouth. Yang was surprised as well, but after a brief moment of silence between us, her radiantly amused grin returned.

"Really~?"

"Um…"

"Relax," she giggled before punching me in the shoulder. "I'm just messin' with ya."

I stared at her incredulously as she got back up and brushed her shirt to smooth it out, her actions stretching the fabric and making her bust a little more pronounced in the process. I felt my face grow warm and began rubbing my chin nervously out of habit again.

"Well, I'm off to get my beauty sleep," she declared. "Got to be ready for tomorrow, ya know?"

"Y-yeah," I agreed.

"See ya then, Kent. Don't be late."

"Goodnight, Yang."

"Goodnight, Boy Scout."

I watched her go as she strut away, but halfway between me and her bed she looked over her shoulder and caught me staring. My face grew warm as I awkwardly waved goodbye, and after she winked back I noticed that she added a little more sway to her hips before she made it back to Ruby and lied down. I didn't blink at all the entire time until I heard my scroll ringing, retrieved it from my jacket pocket and hit "answer."

It was my AI companion grinning knowingly at me.

"What's up, Liv?"

"…"

"…Stop that."

"…"

"I'm serious!"

"So am I," she said. "You're not a captain, but you couldn't have been more obvious. Same goes for her."

"Look," I sighed. "We were just talking and getting to know each other. That was it."

"C'mon, Boy Scout…" she whined.

"Yang was just being Yang," I pressed. "She's naturally flirty like that with everybody."

"You're sure? Those hips of hers told no lies, pal."

"Again, she was just playing around. Okay?"

She gave me a disappointed frown before shrugging. "Suit yourself. Night pal."

"Night."

I ended the call right there and fell back against the wall again. Liv and I had had several exchanges like that in the past, and they all usually ended in similar fashions to that one. She loved to play matchmaker and try to set me up with people she believed I would be perfect for and vice versa, but it never went anywhere beyond close friendship. Heck, before I even got my powers I had yet to go on an actual date at all, and becoming a hero made it even worse as I was always busy moving from one crisis to the next. Then I began jumping across dimensions and any thought that I would be able to pursue a romantic relationship with a woman went out the window.

That's what I kept telling myself the reason was, anyway.

But I couldn't dwell on that knowing what awaited me in the morning, so I closed my eyes and willed myself to go to sleep for the first time in ages, at least that's how it felt. My last thoughts drifted to Yang, her attractiveness and what an overall amazing person she was (RWBY itself had proven that), but also her depression and loneliness after suffering one too many personal losses. The devastation wrought on her life and those closest to her thanks to you-know-who.

I would save her from that. I would save them all.

 _Tomorrow's gonna rock._

And then it was all peaceful silence and otherworldly dreams.

 **A/N** :

Chapter 3. What do you think?

Sorry, this took a while to get out. I'm working on a few other projects of my own and a couple more with my friends, but thanks for sticking around.

Constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated.

Until next time!


	5. Initiation

"You don't look half bad, buddy."

"Thanks, Liv," I said as I took in my reflection in the bathroom mirror.

The initiation was less than an hour away, so all the first-years were sent to the locker rooms (all of which turned out to be co-ed like the dorms) to finish any preparations we felt were necessary for the coming trial. While everyone else kept themselves busy cleaning their weapons, stocking up on ammo, and changing into their combat attire, all I had to do was walk into a bathroom stall, think of what I wanted my new look to be, and the omni-tool did the rest.

The outfit I'd determined wasn't that much different from my casual clothes; the jacket, t-shirt, jeans and shoes remained, but now I had added metallic knee and elbow pads on my arms and legs, along with a matching armored tactical vest with my emblem engraved on the front. I also changed the belt from black leather to red, and the golden belt buckle was now shaped like the Superman diamond. Topping it all off was a pair of brown, fingerless leather gloves that I admired as I flexed my fingers in view of the mirror.

Now granted, the whole ensemble was unnecessary in a practical sense, only serving to enhance my huntsman image, but I still had a role to play.

Walking out of the bathroom, I made my way through the maze of lockers towards where everyone else was finishing getting ready for the day. I arrived just in time to see Ren walk past followed closely behind by Nora, who skipped along with a big smile on her face while humming a random tune. I grinned at the right, but when I turned back to face the other students, one of them immediately stood out in my sight.

Her cheeks were dusted a cute pink tint, and I noticed her avert her gaze from her younger sister while nervously rocking from side to side in place. She then reached around and draped her marvelous golden hair over her shoulder so she could then stroke gently with the opposite hand, the strands practically glowing in the light of the morning sun shining through the window behind her. Just like the night before…nay, even more so, my will to move was stolen from me the moment I laid eyes on her.

A loud "clap" right next to my ear snapped me out of my thoughts, and I looked to see Blake staring at me in an amused fashion before walking away to some other part of the locker room away from everyone else.

 _You've gotta stay focused man,_ I mentally corrected myself. _This is getting…_

"Ridiculous!" Jaune proclaimed. I saw him walking towards me with his scroll…pad in his hands, his face contorted in frustration. "There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday! I would've remembered having to count that high! Why does this have to happen today?"

Before he could walk on by me, I stopped him by placing my hand on his shoulder.

"Jaune?" I pointed to the closest locker. Number 636. "There ya go."

He sighed in relief as he put his scroll pad away. "Thanks."

As Jaune went to retrieve his gear, I moseyed on in the direction where Weiss was trying to persuade Pyrrha to be on the same team as her. But before I could make to move around them, the heiress spun around to hide her manic grin from the champion and relish in her own scheming, only to come face to face with me again.

"Whah," she cried out in surprise. "You again?!"

"For the record, this instance was completely unintentional on my part." I cackled, causing her to stomp her foot and growl at me.

It's then that Jaune moved in-between the two girls and leaned against the locker with one hand.

"You know who you should be meeting?" He asked Weiss in the suavest manner he could manage. "Me, Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is all yours," Weiss responded coldly.

 _This is painful to watch._

Pyrrha then quickly put herself in Jaune's line of sight. "Nice to meet you, Jaune!"

"Yeah, yeah," Jaune muttered as he shoved Pyrrha out of the way, my inner shipper crying out in rage as Jaune went about striking various poses to try and hopelessly impress the ice queen. "So, Weiss, couldn't help but overhear your fondness of me the other day."

 _Oh, you've got to be kidding me._

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Weiss said.

"Don't worry! No need to be embarrassed! So, been hearing rumors about teams! I was thinking you and me would make a good one! What do you say?"

"Actually," Pyrrha chimed in. "I think teams are comprised of four students each, so…"

 _Oh crap,_ I thought. _Just me being here means that the number of first-years is uneven. What if I end up replacing a team member from the original rosters? How will that affect things?_

"Alright, that's a bit too close!"

 _Huh?_

"Pyrrha, a little help, please?"

I realized a split second too late the Pyrrha had thrown Milo at Jaune, the impact sending him sailing back towards me. But I did react fast enough to catch him, although being struck by a huntress' weapon and then smacking against something nigh-invulnerable left him in a slight daze.

"I'm sorry," Pyrrha said with a sheepish wave of her hand.

"He'll be fine," I assured her as I laid Jaune down on his back and then pulled Milo out from his hoodie. "He's tougher than he looks."

" _Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."_

Glynda's command prompted everyone to begin making their way out. Weiss glared at me before walking off in a huff, and Pyrrha slowed her stride so she could call her spear back to her hand with her semblance.

"It was nice meeting you!" She bid to the knight.

"Likewise," Jaune grumbled.

I sighed at his display before I saw Ruby and Yang approach. Both were focused on the downed Arc, but while the younger sibling looked at him with concern, the elder was more amused than anything.

"Having some trouble there, Ladykiller?" She quipped as Ruby held out her hand for Jaune to take.

"I don't understand," He whined as he pushed himself up to a sitting position. "My dad said all women look for is confidence! Where did I go wrong?"

"'Snow Angel' probably wasn't the best start."

I offered Jaune my hand as well, and he took hold of it and Ruby's, allowing both of us to help pull him up. After he slung his arm over the smaller girl's shoulder I stepped back so she could begin leading him away.

"C'mon, Jaune, let's go."

"See ya in a bit guys," I called out to them, watching them go with a smile, the future leaders of Team RWBY and JNPR.

"Well, that was amusing."

My eyes bugged out before I turned to see Yang still standing next to me. Originally, she had left at the same time Ruby and Jaune did, so I was a little surprised to see that she still lingered.

"What was?" I asked while stroking my chin.

"Vomit Boy trying to swoon the Ice Queen."

"Oh right, that." I agreed. "Yeah, kinda. But also a little sad."

"Tell me about it." She then surprised me by taking a moment to examine me, her gaze traveling all up and down my body. She even stood on her tippy toes to look over both of my shoulders.

"Um, Yang?"

"Where's your weapon?"

"My weapon?"

"Yeah," she then unfolded Ember Celica, clenched her fists and slammed them together in her signature pose. "How do you plan on defending yourself as a huntsman?"

My response started with a mere smirk before I slammed my fist into the palm of my other hand. The impact was so great that her hair got caught in the impact shockwave and billowed as if there was a sudden windstorm in the locker room.

She got the message.

"Far out. You don't even need one?"

"Not really. I've been trained to use them, for sure, but I don't really see the point with my skill set."

"You'd prefer the 'hands-on/up close and personal' approach then?"

"More or less," I shrugged.

Then she did something I didn't expect; her eyes became half-lidded and she sauntered over to me with her hands on her hips. I remained perfectly still as she got right up in my personal space and puffed her chest out, giving me a perfect opportunity to catch a brief glimpse of her very alluring cleavage.

"Maybe sometime after today we can go one-on-one," she whispered huskily, drawing my attention back up to her face. "Show what you're made of."

For whatever reason, I decided to play along, my voice dropping a few octaves as I grinned down at her.

"Up close and personal?"

"MmmHmm," she nodded. "Just the way I like it."

"Sounds good to me."

We leaned towards each other very slowly, but out of nowhere she then punched me in the stomach. I reeled back not from the impact but the shock, placing my hand over the spot where she hit me. Caught completely off-guard, all I could do was stare as she covered her mouth to stifle her laughter.

"Oh man," she exclaimed. "You are too easy."

"And here I thought we were having a moment," I mumbled as I stuck my hands in my pockets.

"Oh trust me," she breathed out, finally calming down. "I won't forget this moment anytime soon."

"Great."

"Hey don't be so glum, Boy Scout; we've got an initiation to pass." She continued walking by and waved for me to follow her. "Hurry up!"

When she disappeared around the corner, I felt my nervous habit kick in again, but before it could go on for too long, Liv stopped me.

"Y'know, at the rate you're going, you're going to rub your chin raw soon enough."

"I can't help it," I stated. "She just has that effect on me."

"Your brainwave patterns and hormone levels agree," the AI teased.

"Okay drop it," I insisted. "We need to get going."

"Alright fine," she conceded. "By the way, what do you think Ozpin's going to do with you when this is over?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

WHOOSH

(X)

 **Beacon Cliffs…**

Everyone who assembled at the cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest was arranged in a straight line in front of Ozpin and Glynda. Each of us was positioned on a silver tile that would soon catapult us into the ocean of trees ahead for our test. The headmaster still had his mug in hand while Glynda cradled a scroll pad of her own, her purple cap fluttering in the light breeze that swept over the landscape.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

At Ozpin's pause, Glynda continued with her part of the speech, no doubt rehearsed over several years.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams'. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today."

Ruby didn't like the sound of that. I was standing at the very end of the line, Jaune right next to me and Ruby next to him, then Yang, Cardin, and so on. As Ozpin went on to explain the nature of the test, such as our goal to acquire a relic at some ancient ruins at the northern end of the forest, Ruby grew even more distressed when she heard him reveal how one acquired a partner, while Nora just got more excited.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest," the headmaster went on. "You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die."

Jaune audibly gulped, so I reached over and patted him on the back. He nodded in thanks, but he quickly snapped back to attention when Ozpin asked if anyone had any questions.

"Yeah, um sir?"

"Good," the headmaster exclaimed, ignoring him. "Now, take your positions."

Everyone struck a pose on their respective tile: Yang raised her fists, Ren drew Storm Flower, and Ruby and Nora crouched. But poor Jaune still had his hand raised.

"Uh, sir? I've got, um... a question."

He was completely oblivious to the fact that the springboards beneath the tiles had begun activating down the line, starting with Weiss' and launching her into the horizon.

"So, this landing... strategy thing... Uh, wha-what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?"

"No. You will be falling."

"Oh, uh, I see... So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?"

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy."

"Uh huh… Yeah."

By now both Nora and Ren had taken off, followed swiftly by Cardin, and Jaune still didn't notice. I could have said something to better prepare him for what was about to happen, but I didn't want to risk ruining his chances of meeting and partnering with Pyrrha.

The Arkos ship _will_ stay afloat.

Anyway, I watched Yang reach into her pocket and pull out her aviator shades, but then she caught me off guard again by winking at _me_ instead of her sister. I managed to wink back before she and Ruby took off, which just left me and Jauney-Boy.

"So, what exactly is a landing strategYYY!"

And off he went. I watched him and the other students sail away with a smile on my face, but the sound of Glynda clearing her throat brought my attention back down to her and the headmaster.

"What's wrong?"

"Your springboard appears to have malfunctioned."

I looked down at my tile and then switched on my x-ray vision. The spring mechanism had apparently broken under the pressure of my weight, which, thanks to my enormous molecular density, was pretty big.

"You know… it's funny," I laughed. "I asked myself this morning if I should've eaten as many pancakes as I did. Now I know."

"Mr. Mason…"

"Don't worry, this is an easy fix." I placed one foot in front of my other and bent my knees. "See ya later."

And then I jumped.

Putting one of the most classic facts about my namesake into practice, I performed a leap that covered the same distance as almost half of Vale. The trees passed beneath me like a rushing green river, and after a full minute of relishing the wind in my face and just enjoying the ride, I decided to land in a small clearing up ahead. But as I approached my landing zone, I decided to forego the traditional superhero landing in favor of something more graceful. So when I was ten feet away from the ground, I stopped myself in mid-air and then descended the rest of the way like a gentle dove.

The ability to fly was always useful in these types of situations, and I loved it.

Focusing my senses, I quickly located all the other initiates. They were spread out far and had yet to form pairs, but they were getting close, which meant that I had to keep my distance. I already decide earlier to not put the formation of the new teams at risk by accidentally replacing one of the original members; the friendships each of them would build together were far too valuable for that.

But enough about that. I knew that Oz and Glynda were keeping track of everyone's progress via cameras they placed in various locations around the forest (one of which was looking at me right now) so I figured I'd better get moving. However, I only managed to take a few steps before I heard some rustling in the bushes nearby, and then before I could even turn toward the source of the disturbance a black creature leaped out into the clearing.

It was a Beowolf. Its black fur radiated ethereal darkness and its eyes glowed crimson within its skull-like face. It snarled as it crawled across the ground towards me, and then it rose to its full height and roared right in my face.

 _Puh-lease._

The monster then dove at me with its fangs, so I raised my left forearm up for it to clamp down on. It had no effect on me, and I watched on with a smirk as the beast tried its hardest to tear my flesh to no avail while growling in frustration more and more.

"Careful," I said as I reared my other arm back. "Might hurt your teeth."

POW

The punch I threw caused the Beowolf to explode on impact. Its head, neck, and upper chest were reduced to goo while the rest of its body fell onto the ground in a lifeless heap before dissolving into black mist. I barely had time to enjoy my victory before I heard another one rush up behind me and try to swipe me with its massive claws. I blocked it with one arm and then swung the other around to bisect it at the waist. Three more attacked me next all at once, two from both sides and another from behind. They all leaped at me, claws extended and fangs bared, but they never counted on me being as fast as I was. I sped myself up until they appeared frozen in mid-air from my point of view, allowing me to dispatch them easily with an uppercut to each of their heads.

After I slowed down to normal speed, all three of the remaining Beowolves' heads detonated, their corpses careening over a hundred feet upward before crashing back down to earth and vanishing. A moment of silence followed that made me think I was in the clear, but another, more powerful roar coming from my right made me think twice. An Ursa bounded through the tree line into the open, dirt and grass flying everywhere as it bounded towards me.

It was then I noticed a boulder a few feet away from me. Not too big, about as big as me, it would make a perfect projectile. So I dug my fingers into it and then literally threw it into the Ursa's face like a missile, crushing its skull to powder and killing it.

A little extreme maybe? Not at all. These things were soulless abominations; no method is too extreme when it comes to dispatching them as quickly and efficiently as possible. Everyone in this world would agree with me on that.

But anyway, now that I was in the clear I decided it was time to move on. I picked a direction that would take me away from the other initiates for the time being, but before I went on my way I spared a glance to the camera and made a peace sign before disappearing into the trees.

If only I noticed the shadow that slithered out of the hole where the boulder used to be.

(X)

 **Beacon Cliffs…**

"Ozpin, take a look at this."

The headmaster calmly made his way over to Glynda, who was focusing on her scroll-pad. When he was within range, she moved her arm and held out the pad for him to grasp with his free hand, and what he saw was an image of Kent Mason in the middle of an open area with Grimm closing in.

"I just captured this a couple minutes ago. Watch."

She tapped the center of the screen, and Ozpin looked on silently as the young man proceeded to utterly annihilate the Grimm that attacked him. His movements were precise, his speed impeccable, and his strikes powerful enough to obliterate each of his foes in a single stroke.

"He doesn't' appear to have a weapon," Glynda noted.

"Indeed," Oz acknowledged. "But that isn't what concerns me."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at how he carries himself Glynda; The way he moves, while powerful, indicates that he isn't putting any real effort into defending himself. It's almost as if, to him, this isn't a life-or-death situation, but a routine he has grown accustomed to, one that offers no challenge to him."

"Hmm," Glynda hummed as she studied an up-close image of Kent's face. "Now that you mention it, he does appear to be somewhat bored with this encounter. Could he really be that confident in himself?"

"Perhaps, as long as he had the strength to back it up."

As Ozpin took a sip from his hot beverage, he and Glynda watched as the recording showed Kent make eye-contact with the camera and make a peace gesture at it.

"He knows we're watching him," Glynda observed.

"Yes, he does," Ozpin murmured as Kent disappeared out of sight from the surveillance equipment.

"Look!"

Glynda pointed to another section of the screen where a shadowy apparition emerged from the ground where Kent moved the boulder from and flew into the trees.

"Well now, this was unanticipated."

"They may not be ready to deal with that," Glynda pressed.

"They'll have to be," Ozpin said, staring intently into the distance.

(X)

Things had progressed rather nicely.

I stuck to my original intent of keeping my distance from everyone else and watched as they all joined with their respective partners on their journey to the ruins. At one point I even stopped by the area Weiss and Ruby accidentally set on fire and doused it before it could spread too far.

I guess nobody else noticed it or didn't care. Whatever.

But things got really interesting when the future members of teams RWBY and JNPR converged at the ruins and began their epic battle with the Deathstalker and Nevermore. Team CRDN was out there somewhere also, but they'd already gotten their relics and were on their way back to the cliffs. In the meantime, while the others were busy, I made things a little easier for them by destroying any and all other Grimm that got too close to the battle zone, allowing the huntsman and huntresses-in-training to focus solely on their gargantuan opponents without interference, including my own.

The fight played out exactly as it did on the show, ending with Team RWBY's epic takedown of the Nevermore. Blake used her Gambol Shroud to create a makeshift slingshot that Ruby hopped onto, with Weiss using her glyphs to hold the little red reaper in place. Then Ruby was released, using multiple shots from her weapon to accelerate herself until she hooked the blade of Crescent Rose onto the demonic bird's neck. Weiss then used more glyphs to create a trail up the side of the cliff for Ruby to run up, dragging the Grimm behind her as she ascended. Upon reaching the summit, she rent the creature's head from its body, everyone (myself included) looking on in wonder as the slain beast fell down the cliff and dissolved.

Now seemed like a good time to show myself.

I sped across the ruins, jumped the gap, and stopped right behind Yang, Weiss, and Blake.

"Well," Yang breathed out. "That was a thing."

"Yes, it was," I spoke up, startling all three girls who turned around to look at me.

"Kent?" Yang exclaimed. "Where have you been this whole time?"

"Helping you guys out in my own way."

"Oh really?" Weiss asked, placing her hands on her hips. "How so?"

I crossed my arms and smirked. "Didn't you notice how no other Grimm came by to bother you this whole time?"

Weiss raised a finger to prepare a retort but stopped herself as realization dawned on her. "Um…"

"He's right," Blake agreed. "All this commotion would have attracted a lot of attention, but we weren't attacked by anything else."

Weiss was still a little incredulous. "You're saying that you kept them all at bay by yourself?"

"Eeeyyyup."

"I find that a little hard to believe."

"Believe what you will," I shrugged. "It's the truth."

The heiress crossed her arms and turned away with an "hmph" while I looked up to the top of the cliff and gave Ruby a wave.

"Great job Ruby; you were awesome!"

"Thanks," she called down to me.

But then I saw something creeping up behind her, something ghostly in appearance. Its body lacked a lower half, and the top was covered in bonelike spines. A bone plate with glowing red markings and a single eye made up its face, and it raised one of its long, skeleton-like arms to strike the young huntress-in-training.

"Ruby, look out!"

Ruby tilted her head before turning around at last, but unfortunately, the Grimm's sudden appearance startled her so much that she lost her footing and stumbled backward off the edge of the cliff. Her scythe slipped out of her grasp, leaving her with nothing to slow down or stop her descent, leading to her crying out in fear as she fell.

"Ruby!" Yang cried out.

"I've got her!"

I ran up the side of the cliff and grabbed Ruby and her scythe. I then pushed off the rock face and cleared the entire chasm, landing right behind Team JNPR. Ruby blinked in confusion before she looked up and realized who was holding her.

"Kent? You saved me?"

"Yep."

"Thanks."

I smiled and set her down gently as Team JNPR came running over.

"That. Was. AWESOME," Nora cheered. "When she fell and was all like 'AAGH!', you were like 'WOOSH' and caught her, and then you jumped and landed and it was SO COOL!"

Ren shook his head at her antics. "What she means to say is that you were very impressive."

"Thank you," I nodded to the bubbly bomber.

She giggled like a child and bounced on the balls of her feet, and that was when I noticed Yang, Blake, and Weiss as they finished hurtling themselves back across the chasm. They touched down on the other side of JNPR, and then Yang forced her way through the small crowd to check on her little sister. I took that time to refocus on the summit and saw that the Grimm was gone, much to my dread.

"What happened up there?" Jaune asked from next to me.

"Ruby almost got jumped by a Grimm."

"What kind?"

"A Geist."

"What's a Geist?"

"A possession-type Grimm," Pyrrha answered as she stepped in-line next to Jaune. "They can take control of inanimate objects and use them as extensions of their own body."

"What? Then where'd it go?"

The ground then trembled beneath our feet, followed by a massive form emerging in front of us as it climbed it up over the edge of the chasm. A stone golem, comprised of various pieces of the ruins that were broken and/or smashed from the fights with the Deathstalker and Nevermore, towered over our group, black tendrils reaching out and grasping more pieces of stone to add to its form. The biggest piece made up the monstrosity's torso, and in the center of it was the bone mask, its face, staring down at us.

RWBY and JNPR were a little apprehensive, but then they grouped together on either side of me and readied their weapons once again.

"You guys ready?" Ruby asked everyone.

"Yeah," they all answered, but when they made to move forward, I threw both my arms out and stopped them from going any further.

"No. I've got this."

"What?" Ruby shouted.

"You're all exhausted from your last fight and your ammo is almost spent. Besides, it's my turn to strut my stuff now."

"You can't take that thing on your own," Blake declared.

"Yes, I can. Trust me."

They all looked at each other and silently agreed that I had a point; they weren't in any real condition for another bout as big as their last one so quickly after. They eased up on their battle stances but kept their grip on their weapons tight.

"We'll be here for you if you need us," Jaune assured.

I nodded and began walking toward my foe, but then Yang called out to me.

"Be careful, alright?"

I grinned at her from over my shoulder. "Hey, it's me."

She smiled back and we exchanged a thumbs-up before I turned back to the Geist-Golem. It towered over our group, but I was not deterred. I stood with my arms at my sides and my fists clenched, waiting for the right moment, and it came when the Geist raised one of its massive arms above its head to bring down on me and my friends.

"See ya."

KOOM

To the untrained eye, it appeared as though the golem was about to crush me one moment, and the next there was a gaping hole in its chest where its face should be, all while I remained perfectly still. But that was not the case. Not only did my punch tear through the giant and obliterate its demonic host, but the force of my attack kept going and tore a huge, gaping hole through the cliff behind the monster.

You know when you try to use a hole-puncher too close to the edge of a piece of paper? Yeah, that's what the top of the cliff looked like now.

What was left of the golem remained still as a statue for a few seconds longer before it fell to pieces, sending dirt and small rocks flying all over the place. I turned back to the rest of the remaining initiates, all of whom were staring at me with their jaws comically slack. That was already amusing enough, but then I remembered that this whole area was being monitored. I focused my hearing again and picked up the distant sound of porcelain breaking upon contact with rocky ground.

My little show had stunned Ozpin so much that he **dropped his coffee mug**.

 _Now he's starting to get it._

"Well, that's it then," I stated as I brushed off my jacket. "Guess I should get my relic and head on out of here."

"B-but," Pyrrha stammered. "There…were none…left."

"Really? Well darn, what am I gonna do then?" I paused, pretending to be deep in thought. "Eh, if that's the case, we'll just see what happens when we get back. C'mon, let's go."

As I walked away, RWBY and JNPR remained idle but kept on staring at me with their disbelieving expressions until, finally, Ruby came to her senses first.

"HOW DO YOU EVEN?!"

(X)

 **The Auditorium…**

Ozpin had just finished proclaiming the formation of Team CRDL. As the four young men stepped off the stage, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora walked up to take their place in front of the headmaster. I stood back with the other four girls, waiting until our names were called.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR."

Nora laughed and gave Ren a big hug while Pyrrha watched with a smile.

"Led by... Jaune Arc!"

Jaune blanched at Ozpin's declaration in stark contrast to Pyrrha, who positively beamed in response.

"Huh? L-Led by...?" The knight stammered.

Oz gave him a slight nod. "Congratulations, young man."

Pyrrha then proceeded to accidentally knock Jaune on his rear with a friendly punch to the shoulder. She helped him back up before they and their other two teammates moved to make room for Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and Blake.

"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose!"

Ruby clearly didn't know what to make of that yet, and neither did Weiss. But Yang couldn't care any less as she ran over to her little sister and embraced her, telling her how proud she was of her. When the blonde brawler let go, Ruby turned around to look at me, her nervous expression asking me what I thought of all of this. I gave her a thumbs-up, which seemed to ease her spirits.

But then the moment of truth happened.

"And finally, Kent Mason."

I began making my way up there as Team RWBY departed the same way they came up, and we met at the halfway point. As I passed by them, I felt someone grab hold of my arm and tug on it slightly. The culprit turned out to be Yang, who was quick to lock eyes with me.

"Thank you for saving my sister like that," she smiled.

I smiled back and reached over to pat her hand with my free one. "Anytime."

She let go and I continued on my way until I was standing before Ozpin. As a picture of my face appeared on the screen, I folded my hands in front of me and relaxed. Sure, I was wondering what his plans for me were, but as long as they didn't deter my goal to protect Beacon, I would be fine with it.

"It has been quite some time since we have had an 'odd-student-out' as it were," the audience laughed a little at that as I rolled my eyes. "But you displayed immense skill, wisdom, and willingness to put the needs of your fellow huntsmen before yourself. As such, you will be given a special position few have ever received."

"Ooh, the suspense is killing me," Liv spoke on a frequency only I could hear.

"You will act as the intermediary between each and every team of huntsman and huntresses, regardless of year. You will learn from them and they from you as you assist them in achieving whatever goals they set for themselves on your own discretion, and you'll answer only to myself and the other staff members. Take your duty to heart, and may your fulfillment of it serve as an example to us all."

"Yes sir," I declared.

Ozpin held out his hand for me to shake and I took it. The crowd then erupted into cheers one final time, with those of Team RWBY's new leader standing out to me personally.

"Go, Superman!" Ruby shouted as loud as she could, making me laugh.

Ozpin cracked an amused smile at the display. "It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year."

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet," I promised him. I looked back to RWBY and JNPR as they all congratulated each other.

They were all so happy, and my determination to fulfill my goal only grew at the sight.

"We've only just begun."

(X)

 **A.N** :

First of all, I just want to say… wow. I am honestly shocked at the overwhelmingly positive reception this story has gotten. Thank you all so much for your praise; it means so much to me that you would applaud this as you have. I mean it. Thanks.

But I'm afraid I have some bad news as well. For the next three months, I'll be working at a summer camp and only be able to work on the next chapter during the weekends instead of every day like I have up until now. It will take a while for me to get the next one completed, plus I also want to work on my other stories a little bit as well, but I will NOT abandon this story. I will see this one through.

Please stay tuned.


	6. The Burden and the Prelude

So yeah, day one of classes.

After another decent night of sleep, I woke myself up at about 8:54 am, plenty of time to get ready before class started. Once I was fully cleaned and dressed in my new academy uniform via omni-tool magic, I checked my scroll to find a text from Glynda informing me that Teams RWBY and JNPR never showed up for breakfast, and as such she was worried that they were going to be late for Port's lesson. Speeding across campus, I quickly made it to the first-year dorm building to find RWBY's door already open and Weiss shouting at Ruby (again).

"It's 8:55, you dunce!"

I made sure to move out of the way before the heiress bolted out of the room and down the hall. The rest of RWBY and all of JNPR then peeked out from their respective doorways to watch her go.

"Uh," Ruby stammered. "To class!"

The red reaper ran after her partner, followed close behind by Yang and Blake, the blonde brawler making sure to give me a quick wave as she passed.

"Class…?" Jaune wondered aloud before he lost his balance and he, along with the rest of his team, collapsed onto the floor in a heap.

"Yep," I said, kneeling down next to them. "Better get going."

"We're gonna be late!"

The four of them sprung to their feet and took off.

"Hey, wait up," I laughed, running to catch up.

Yes, I could've easily got them all to class on time if I carried them one or two at a time, but I honestly didn't want to. I was simply having too much fun. The thrill of not knowing if we were going to make it on time as we all struggled to beat the clock together reminded me of my life before I became Superman. Little moments like these where I didn't have to use my powers and simply let myself experience and enjoy life were always precious to me, not to mention few and far between.

All in all, not a bad way to start my first day as a school student in centuries.

After we got to class, however, that's when things got a little tense.

I went into that classroom honestly looking forward to Professor Port's lecture, but as he regaled the tales of his adventures from his younger years, I found myself distracted by two particular classmates. Ruby antics and funny drawings of their teacher were only serving to make Weiss all the more frustrated with her leader by the second. I wanted to step in, to defuse the situation growing between them, but I stayed my hand, knowing what the results would be and how it would affect Ruby and Weiss' relationship for the better later on.

Soon, as expected, Port asked if anyone in the classroom embodied the traits of a true huntsman he just finished listing, and Weiss, her anger having reached a boiling point, threw her hand up.

"I do, sir!"

"Well, then, let's find out," he bellowed. "Step forward, and face your opponent."

Weiss nodded and got up from her seat, making a beeline for the exit so she could go get changed into her combat gear.

Now you see, a hard heart is tough to crack, and Weiss' was practically diamond right now, metaphorically speaking. When the boarbatusk was released, she used every trick she could think of to try and destroy it while her team cheered her on as best they could, buuut it worked about as well as you'd expect given Weiss' attitude.

The boarbatusk charged, so she deflected its attack and rolled away.

"Haha!" Port laughed. "Wasn't expecting that, were you?"

"Hang in there, Weiss!" Ruby called out from her seat, her excitement clear on her face.

Sadly, Weiss did not share it, instead speeding toward her opponent and inadvertently jamming Myrtenaster into the creature's tusks where it got stuck. Seeing its chance, the demonic beast started dragging her around despite her attempts to pry her weapon free.

"Bold, new approach. I like it," Port commended.

"C'mon Weiss, show it who's boss!" Ruby yelled.

 _Not long now,_ I mentally sighed.

Weiss just had to spare a glare at her leader at that moment. The boarbatusk took quick advantage of that and threw her weapon away before knocking her onto her rear.

"Oh-ho! Now, what will you do without your weapon?"

The boarbatusk charged again, but Weiss reacted faster this time by rolling out of the way. The creature missed its intended target and crashed into a desk, giving the heiress and opportune moment to run across the room and retrieve her weapon.

"Weiss, go for its belly!" Ruby encouraged. "There's no armor underneath-"

"Stop telling me what to do!" Weiss thundered.

 _And there it is._

Ruby shrank away, her enthusiasm whittling away in an instant at her partner's outburst. Blake appeared rather disappointed at this development, while Yang scowled over the treatment her sister received. But Weiss most likely did not care, as she was too busy focusing on the Grimm that was now rolling at her like a buzzsaw. Right before it could hit her, however, she used one of her glyphs to stop it dead in its tracks. After it fell onto its back, she launched herself off of a black glyph and stabbed the thing square in its stomach, killing it.

"Bravo! Bra-vo!" Port cheered as Weiss stood up, exhausted from her encounter. "It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training! I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

Weiss shot the rest of the class a minor glare before stomping away and leaving the classroom.

"Sheesh, what's up with her?" Jaune wondered aloud.

The other three members of RWBY were clearly wondering the same thing but had chosen to remain silent. A few seconds passed before Ruby got up and bolted out of the classroom.

"Ruby?" Yang called out.

"Let her go," I said. "This is between her and Weiss."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Blake asked.

"Yes. Ruby needs to learn how to handle these types of situations; it's part of being a leader." Yang still looked a little apprehensive, so I got out of my seat and stepped down. "How about I go keep an eye on them, just in case?"

Yang smiled gratefully and nodded, so I gave her a thumbs up and jogged out the door. After locating the girls, I cranked up my speed and zipped through the halls until I caught up with Ruby right as she rounded the corner. I walked silently to the edge and listened as they unloaded their frustration on each other.

"Weiss!"

"What?"

"What's wrong with you? Why are you being-"

"What's wrong with _me_? What's wrong with _you_?"

My eavesdropping was interrupted when I detected a certain someone fast approaching from behind me. I turned around to see Ozpin standing there, curious as to what I was up to, so I put a finger to my lips and beckoned him to come over quietly. He obliged and made it just in time to hear the last moments of Ruby and Weiss' argument.

"I've studied and trained, and quite frankly, I deserve better! Ozpin made a mistake."

As Weiss stormed away, Ozpin and I exchanged knowing looks; someone had to go out there and console Ruby. I gestured for him to go ahead, but he shook his head and gestured for me to take the initiative. Raising one of my brows, I pointed to myself and mouthed "You sure?", and he nodded. I guessed that this was his way of seeing my diplomatic skills firsthand. Accepting the challenge, I put my hands in my pockets before taking a deep breath and stepping out from my hiding place and approaching the little red reaper, who realized someone was coming and turned to face me.

"Well, that could've gone better," I said in greeting.

Ruby let out a long sigh. "You heard all of that?"

"Eeeyup."

"Oh," Poor thing looked on the verge of tears. "Is she right? Did Ozpin make a mistake?"

 _Yeesh, she looks like a lost puppy. Better fix that._

"That remains to be seen, Ruby."

Her head tilted. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that it's only been, like, one day, so you shouldn't get so worked up over it," She still looked doubtful, so I took a step forward and placed my hand on her shoulder. "Ruby, take it from me; with all I've seen and experienced in my travels, I've made plenty of mistakes."

"You have?"

"Yes, more than you could even fathom. But in all honesty, you being chosen as team leader wasn't a bad call. You _can_ do it; Ozpin has faith in you, your sister does, and so do I."

"Thanks," She was still frowning, but I saw a hint of hope in her eyes. "I just wish I had more faith in myself right now."

"That's the amazing thing about faith, Ruby," I smiled. "Even in small amounts, it can give you the strength to move mountains. Just remember, though; never, ever take your role as leader for granted. Lead by _example_ , put the needs of your team _before_ your own, and give _twice_ as much as you would expect from those who follow you. If you can do that, then everything else will fall into place."

"I can," she said, her spirits finally lifting.

"Then say it," I leaned back and crossed my arms expectantly. "And really mean it."

"I can do it," she proclaimed with a fist pump. "I will do it!"

"That's the spirit," I gave her an encouraging slap on her shoulder, but then I froze when she jumped forward and wrapped her arms around me in the biggest hug she could offer.

"Thank you," she said.

Blinking my surprise away, I allowed my body to relax and then returned the embrace. "No problem."

We stayed like that for a couple seconds longer before she let go, but when she began to scamper away, she suddenly let out a surprised gasp. "Oh wait, I've got to warn you."

"About what?"

"It's Yang; she wants to fight you the first chance she gets. Something about 'up close and personal'?"

I smirked knowingly. "Really?"

"Yeah," The little reaper went on. "She wouldn't stop talking about how awesome it would be to face someone strong enough to kill a giant Grimm with one punch. How'd you do that, anyway?"

"You want to know my secret?" She nodded excitedly. "I quit eating cookies."

She gasped in absolute fear, genuinely distraught at the possibility that I would deny myself one of the greatest treats ever conceived.

"Seriously?" She asked, genuinely disturbed at the idea.

"Nope," I laughed. "But I had you going there."

She pouted and stuck her tongue out at me. "Jerk."

"Eh, I can be," I shrugged playfully. "Anyway, tell Yang I'm looking forward to it when you see her."

"Can do," she saluted. "Bye, buddy!"

"See ya later, Ruby," I waved, and off she went down the hall.

A spark of excitement lit up in my mind at the news she just gave me. A brawl with Yang did seem like a fun idea, and maybe I could teach her a few things in the process. Heck, maybe I could also do the same to a bunch of other students. My position as mediator practically required me to do help them improve in whatever areas they needed, and since our primary goal was fighting Grimm, combat would undoubtedly take center stage. But my snowballing thoughts were then stalled when I heard Ozpin walk over and stand next to me.

"You handled that remarkably well," he stated.

"Thanks. You wouldn't have done so bad yourself."

"Perhaps," he looked back in the direction Ruby and Weiss left in. "I just hope that Miss Schnee will be open to such counsel should it come her way."

"She is," I smiled. "And it did."

That surprised him. "How do you know?"

"I have good hearing, remember? Professor Port just gave her a little talking to; long story short, she took his words to heart. She'll work things out with Ruby, you'll see."

"You really have that much faith in them?"

"More like a 'confident expectation', but yes."

"Hmm, speaking of expectations," he paused to drink his coffee. "There are a couple of things I must share with you."

The atmosphere around us had quickly changed from relaxed to serious in mere moments. "What things?"

"Firstly is that you are to move out of your temporary living quarters tonight. Glynda and I have already selected a new room for you in the same building as the other first years and texted its location to you."

"Ok, sounds good," I filed that away in my mind for later. "And the other thing?"

"When you are finished settling in, come to my office after sundown," his tone made it clear that I was not to disobey. "Qrow will be there as well."

The ensuing moment of silence gave me a moment to let his words sink in. This was it; it was finally time for me to come clean, and he knew that I knew that. But I'd been waiting for this moment since I got here, and it was about dang time.

"I understand," I told him.

"Good," he said as he began strolling away. "Don't be late, and be sure to bring your friend."

"Got it," And with that, I turned and headed off in the opposite direction.

"Ugh, _finally,_ we're getting out of that storage closet," Liv's voice groaned from the bracelet.

"Seriously?" I deadpanned. "We're about to have a meeting that will change the course of this entire world, and you're more concerned about us getting new digs?"

"Well, technically _you're_ getting new digs," she specified. "I can have whatever room I want in here. But my point still stands."

"Oh c'mon, it wasn't _that_ bad."

"Kent, our 'room' was filled with more beds than a Midwestern summer camp, not to mention all the cleaning supplies we found in the bathroom. We could've started our own business with all that stuff!"

"Liv…"

"I can see it now; Mason's Super Sanitation. Faster than a speeding push-broom, more powerful than a vacuum cleaner, able to clean entire windows in a single wipe…"

"Ok, fine, you've made your point," I conceded and allowed myself a little chortle. "Now can you please help me go over our presentation again, just to be sure we didn't miss anything?"

"Can I play my tunes as background while we work?"

"As long as you include the Aladdin soundtrack."

"Deal!"

(X)

 **A/N** :

A short chapter, yes, but the next one is going to be a LOT longer, as it's basically one big exposition dump. Speaking of which, the next chapter is already 90 percent complete, as it was the second chapter I wrote for this fic after Get the Ball Rolling. Just give me a couple of weeks and I'll have that one up as well.

Please leave a comment/review. Constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated.

Stay tuned!


	7. The Powers that Be

The low hum of the elevator ascending was all I could hear apart from my steady breathing. My heartbeat elevated slightly as I thought of who would be waiting for me at the top, and I smiled internally at the prospect of meeting him in person. When the elevator stopped and allowed me entry into the office, I saw Ozpin sitting behind his desk, Glynda standing next to him as per usual. But then I noticed Qrow Branwen facing away from the elevator as he observed the footage of my initiation, particularly how I tore a Geist-Golem in two and the resulting geological damage.

 _Here we go._

I put my hands in my pockets and stepped inside, Ozpin now aware of my arrival and shutting off the video before Glynda and Qrow both turned to face me.

"Well, here I am," I said in greeting.

"Mr. Mason, thank you for coming," Ozpin said, setting his mug down. "Qrow Branwen is here as you requested."

"Thank you, sir," I turned to the aforementioned grizzled huntsman. "Nice to finally meet you Qrow, but something tells me you're not in the handshaking mood."

"Not yet, kid," He huffed. "Not until you tell us what you know, and it'd better be worth my time."

"We fulfilled our end of the bargain, Kent," Ozpin reminded me as he tented his hands in front of his face. "And now we expect you to fulfill yours."

"With pleasure," I took a deep breath. "Alright, you're all currently on the same page in regards to me: you know my name and have seen a brief glimpse of my abilities, but obviously there's FAR more to it than that. So, allow me to fully introduce myself; my name is Kent Mason, and I'm a metahuman from a parallel dimension."

There was a beat of silence before Qrow scoffed. "Bullshit."

No surprise there. "I assure you it isn't, Qrow, despite how crazy it sounds."

"Kent, please," Glynda rolled her eyes. "I explicitly recall you saying that you were from outside of the kingdoms, a town called 'Thornwood,' if I remember correctly."

"And I was telling the truth, just not all of it, admittedly," I unveiled. "My hometown of Thornwood is indeed located outside of the kingdoms… but also on another world in a completely different universe apart from your own."

The headmaster leaned forward in his seat. "If you are indeed from another dimension, Kent, then how did you even get here?"

I rolled up my sleeve and deactivated the cloak on my bracelet, revealing it to them all. "Through this."

"A piece of jewelry?" Qrow deadpanned.

"This 'piece of jewelry' is called an omni-tool, one of the most advanced pieces of technology in all the multiverse. It can do almost anything, like generate a suppression field around this whole building so nothing outside hears what we're all talking about (like it is right now), to opening portals to other universes."

A small ball of light flew from the bracelet and traveled to the ceiling where it expanded into a bright blue circle of energy, a doorway that provided a perfect view of what lied beyond. The landscape featured a field of tall grass littered with even taller flowers with glowing blue petals as far as the eye could see, and far off in the distance one could see three things: some sort of city with tall, silver skyscrapers stretching hundreds of feet in the air, and two celestial bodies in the sky above them, one appearing to be a whole other planet with green continents surrounded by vast blue oceans, and the other a dimly shining moon of some sort.

Everyone in the group was mesmerized by the sight. Suddenly, on the other side, a flock of what appeared to be birds passed over the field, one of them breaking off and flying through the gateway into the headmaster's office, its wings flapping rapidly as it hovered in front of Glynda, who, in her curiosity, lifted her hand and extended her finger for it to perch on.

It was a small thing, a little larger than the hand it rested upon, with aqua-colored feathers that featured red tips on the ends of its wings, a crown of glowing purple feathers upon its head and an ebony-colored beak. Said avian appeared comfortable in its current position as its breathing slowed before it dipped its head forward, presenting its crown to the human woman. Extending her other finger, Glynda proceeded to gently stroke the soft feathers, her ministrations eliciting a content purr from the creature before it suddenly took to the air again and flew back through the portal to rejoin its flock.

I picked that moment to close the portal once the bird was safely through and then waited patiently for all their responses.

"Astounding," Ozpin breathed out. "How did you come across such a device?"

"It was given to me by a being called 'The Traveler', but that's a story for later. For now, just know that the portals it creates never lead to the same place twice, so be glad you weren't on the other side when it shut."

"Sorry Glyn," Qrow grinned, "Looks like your new friend won't be flyin' by anytime soon."

"Very impressive, Kent," Ozpin observed. "But when exactly did you arrive on Remnant, then?"

"Five days ago, on the same night Ruby fought off Roman Torchwick and his thugs outside the dust shop, the same night I also met you and Glynda."

"Wait a minute," Glynda said. "If you've only been on our world for a few days, how do you know so much about our order and the Maidens?"

"Yeah, start talkin'," Qrow agreed.

I took another deep breath. "Okay, this is where it gets a little crazier; the reason I know so much about your world is that, back in my home universe, you're all fictional characters on a popular web series called RWBY, of which I was a fan of."

They all stared at me open-mouthed for several seconds, but I remained steadfast in my posture, hoping my body language would convince them that I was being serious.

"You are… quite sincere?" Ozpin asked skeptically, trying his hardest to make sense of my claim.

"Yes, and I can prove it. Beacon's relic is kept in a safe and extremely well-hidden location that nobody, not even Salem herself, knows about, yes?"

"… True."

"I pieced together information provided by the show to determine exactly where it is," I pointed to the gentlemen's stick in his other hand. "It's in your cane."

Everyone balked at me for a brief moment before Ozpin cast a brief glance down at his weapon. It was time to pour it on.

"And Qrow? I know that your semblance is the passive ability to bring bad luck to everyone around you, but you have no control over it, which is why you prefer to fly solo. You and your twin sister Raven were raised by a tribe of bandits that she now leads, but during your days here at Beacon you two plus Taiyang and Summer Rose (may she rest in peace) formed Team STRQ. Raven is Yang's biological mother, and Summer is Ruby's, both through Taiyang, who, on your first day of school, tricked you into wearing a skirt-"

"Okay, okay," the grizzled huntsman urged me to stop when Ozpin and Glynda began to chuckle. "You've convinced me."

Once his laughter died down, Oz was all business again. "So what you're saying, young man, is that you know so much about our world and what Salem is up to because of the events depicted in this show about… us?"

"Exactly; I'm aware of everything that will occur over the next year, every event that would have led to Beacon's downfall and the aftermath."

"Alright then, kid, I'll bite," Qrow pressed. "What are we up against?"

"Ok, just so you know, I'll be focusing mainly on Salem's plans for Beacon and Vale, so let's start with that, beginning with her chosen pieces to carry it out."

I then used my bracelet to create a rotating, holographic projection of Cinder for all to see. All the images and videos Liv and I chose had been doctored to appear as real as we could manage, as opposed to their original 3D models.

"This is Cinder Fall, the Fall Maiden-Wannabe. Ruthless, cunning, and determined, she is Salem's main operative here in Vale. The bargain between them is simple; Salem helps Cinder become the Fall Maiden, and in return, Cinder destroys Beacon so Salem can retrieve its relic."

"How did she manage to steal Amber's power in the first place?" Ozpin asked.

I adjusted the image to add the Grimm Glove to her right arm. "With that. Some sort of cursed glove Salem gave her that transferred Amber's power directly to her, but it was only a one time use, and after you interfered, Qrow, the process was cut short and the glove was absorbed into her body, but it left her with an insatiable hunger for the rest of the Fall Maiden power, and now she'll do anything to get it."

"What's her motive?" Qrow asked next.

"Personal reasons apart from her loyalty to Salem: she wants to become the next Fall Maiden just so she can be, and I quote, 'strong, feared, and powerful,' as simple and evil as they come."

"And what of those she has working for her?" Glynda went on with the line of questioning.

I swapped Cinder's image with that of Emerald. "The first is Emerald Sustrai, a former homeless thief turned assassin whom Cinder swayed to her side with the promise that she'll 'never go hungry again' if she joined her, and as such Emerald idolizes her, despite the constant threats and abuse Cinder dishes out to her in return; Stockholm Syndrome at its finest. Her semblance is perception altering, making people see and hear things that aren't really there; useful for her line of work."

I changed the image again. "Up next is Mercury Black, son of Marcus Black."

"Black?" Qrow asked with another scoff. "I crossed paths with him a couple of times. I guess the bad apple really doesn't fall far from the tree."

"Trust me, Mercury fell further. You see, Cinder originally sought to recruit Marcus thanks to his reputation, but upon arriving at his home in the mountains, she found his house on fire, Marcus dead on the ground, and Mercury standing triumphantly over his body."

"He killed his own father?" Glynda blanched.

I shrugged. "Well, and I'm not justifying it, but Marcus was an alcoholic, so it stands to reason that he abused his son regularly until Mercury just couldn't take it anymore. However, the battle did cost him the use of his legs, so Cinder had them replaced with robotic prosthetics, and then I guess he chose to work for her in return, but also partly because of his own sadism."

"Just like good ol' dad," Qrow said dryly.

"And what about the crime lord, Roman Torchwick?" The headmaster continued. "What's his stake in this?"

The image shifted again to display the aforementioned convict. "Roman's a gambling man; he threw in his lot with Salem because he feels that her victory is assured and thus would rather be on the 'winning team'. It's not that he has anything to gain, it's that he can't afford to lose. He's been essential in helping Cinder acquire the loads and loads of dust she needs for her operations."

"So she's the real reason behind all the resources being taken from the Schnee Dust Company and other dust vendors?" Glynda realized.

"Exactly."

I changed the projection again to display a certain ice cream-themed girl holding an umbrella over her head. "This is Neopolitan, 'Neo' for short, Roman's right-hand gal. She's as deadly as she is cute, and she knows it. Her semblance involves creating convincing illusions to trick her prey so she can cut into them more easily, in a literal sense."

Her image was then replaced with that of the last pawn. "And lastly, we have Adam Taurus, top fanatic in the White Fang and one of the deadliest and most feared faunus in the world."

"Strange. Why would the White Fang ally themselves with a human cause?" Glynda wondered aloud.

"Because their Vale branch has gone rogue under Adam's leadership and Cinder used her stolen power to threaten them into complying, but while Adam originally obeyed under the fear of death, he's since grown to serve her more willingly, despite what she has planned for his men. His splinter group wants to recruit more members here in Vale to be used mainly as cannon fodder for Cinder's upcoming schemes, but Adam's okay with it as he feels it is necessary to 'give humanity the justice they deserve' and all that crap."

"Talk about 'bad company'," Qrow murmured.

Ozpin took a long swig from his mug. "What is their next move?"

I projected another viewscreen showing an image of a certain shipyard within the city. "Since Roman's attempt to rob that dust shop a few night ago went FUBAR, he's going to keep a low profile until near the end of the first semester when Team RWBY and a couple of their friends track him to this shipyard. Here, they'll have a big showdown, during which Roman will escape even if it means leaving behind all the dust he was trying to steal."

"Miss Rose and her teammates seem to always have the spotlight, from the looks of it." Glynda pointed out.

"Hence why the show was named after them," I explained. "Anyway, because of his failure that evening, Cinder will decide to get more actively involved by infiltrating Beacon alongside Emerald and Mercury, the three of them posing as a group of students from Haven Academy visiting for the Vytal Festival."

The screen changed to show Cinder and her posse dressed in the black and gray uniforms of Haven.

"How'd they manage to pull that off?" Qrow asked.

"Their greatest weapon is their secrecy, Qrow. Nobody other than you has seen them, and even then you didn't get a good enough look at their faces either, did you?"

"… No."

"And there you have it. Moving on, Cinder's posse will devote their free time to gathering information on the most skilled of Beacon's students, singling out Pyrrha Nikos because of her abilities, reputation, and character."

"Why her?" Glynda wondered aloud.

"Because Cinder guesses correctly that your merry band will try and find someone to safeguard the other half of Amber's power, and that Pyrrha will most likely be your top candidate, but more on that later. A crucial moment in Cinder's plan will come the night Team RWBY hosts a school dance during the second semester. While Emerald and Mercury keep an eye on things in the ballroom, Cinder will disguise herself and infiltrate the CCT so she can upload a computer virus into Vale's network before Ruby shows up and drives her off."

"Heh, that's my little Pipsqueak," Qrow mused, earning him a few looks from his colleagues. "What?"

"What type of computer virus?" Ozpin urged.

"One that's powerful enough to cripple Vale's communications and give her full control over them when it's activated. However, on that same night she plants it, Ruby will also overhear her speaking of something going on in the southeast."

The image changed again to show a desolate city they all recognized.

"Mountain Glenn?" Glynda questioned. "That whole region is just a wasteland. What use could Cinder have for it?"

"Having Roman and the White Fang clean out the tunnels and repair the underground railroad track beneath it that stretches all the way from there to Vale, that's what."

"What for, though?" Qrow asked.

"To load up a train with explosives made from the dust that Roman stole, transport them all the way to Vale and then blow them up to create a breach from which the Grimm will emerge and attack."

"A Grimm invasion?" Glynda gasped.

"Small scale, but yes. But before all of that, Ruby will inform you of what she overheard that night and you'll decide to take action: Ironwood, who arrived in Vale with his army beforehand, will demand that his men scour to the southeast to investigate what's going on, while you, Ozpin, will suggest sending a small scouting party instead to keep things discreet, and when the Council approves of your method over James', you'll send Team RWBY and Doctor Oobleck to the mountain.

When they discover that Roman and the White Fang are there, Roman will move up his timetable and launch the train a few days ahead of schedule. RWBY and Oobleck will do their best to stop it, but they'll fail and the breach will occur. Now, the ensuing Grimm invasion will be fended off by Beacon's students and the Atlas military working together, heck even Cinder and her minions help out just to maintain their cover, and Roman will be taken into custody afterward, but the damage will have already been done."

The image switched to show Atlas ships flying in the skies above Vale.

"The Council will recant their decision to trust Ozpin and instead give Ironwood the authority to launch a full-blown military occupation of Vale, which is exactly what Cinder wants, because such a massive force policing the kingdom will stir up tension and discontent amongst the populace, and if this is the size of our defenses…"

I silently pointed at Ozpin, and he understood. "What is it we're expecting to fight?"

"Exactly."

The image of Cinder and her crew sitting in the bleachers around the coliseum appeared next.

"Now from there, the Vytal Festival will proceed, but Cinder will use her virus to control who fights who for her own ends, and the results won't be pretty."

Next up was Pyrrha and Ozpin's group standing before Amber in the Vault.

"During the finals, your group will grow desperate and propose to Pyrrha that she become the next Fall Maiden," I let out a sigh. "And you'll be making a terrible, terrible mistake in more ways than one."

"What makes you say that?" Glynda inquired of me. "You said it yourself that Miss Nikos would be the opportune candidate? Why shouldn't we pick her?"

"… Here, I'll let Pyrrha herself explain."

I then played the scene of her and Jaune from _Dance Dance Infiltration_. It begins with Pyrrha alone on the balcony before Jaune steps into view.

 _"Hey, Pyrrha."_

 _Pyrrha turns around to face him, a glum look on her face. "Hello, Jaune."_

 _"You okay? I haven't seen you tonight."_

 _Pyrrha turns away from him. "Arrived late, I'm afraid."_

 _"Well, you look really nice."_

 _"Thank you."_

 _Jaune then begins nervously tipping on his toes. "Your, uh, date isn't going to beat me up for saying that, is he?"_

 _"I think you're safe for tonight."_

 _Jaune then begins rubbing his hands together. "So, where is the guy?_

 _She turns back toward Jaune before her head sinks in melancholy. "There is no guy."_

 _"What?" Jaune sputtered._

 _Pyrrha shakes her head. "Nobody asked me."_

 _"But that's... You're Pyrrha Nikos! H-How could nobody ask you?"_

 _Pyrrha pauses for a moment before beginning her speech. "I've been blessed with incredible talents and opportunities. I'm constantly surrounded by love and praise, but when you're placed on a pedestal like that for so long, you become separated from the people that put you there in the first place. Everyone assumes I'm too good for them. That I'm on a level they simply can't attain. It's become impossible to form any sort of meaningful relationship with people. That's what I like about you. When we met, you didn't even know my name. You treated me just like anyone else. And thanks to you, I've made friendships that will last a lifetime. I guess you're the kind of guy I wish I was here with. Someone who just saw me for me."_

 _Pyrrha looks at Jaune one last time and then walks away._

I stopped the clip there. "Satisfied?"

Ozpin pinched the bridge of his nose. "We'd be condemning her to the very thing she loathed and tried her hardest to get away from."

"Logically, Pyrrha would be the best choice for the next Fall Maiden, but ethically it would be flat out _wrong_. Pyrrha cannot become the Fall Maiden, for both her own sake and everyone else's."

"Kent," Ozpin sounded almost pleading. "You must understand that we'd only do something like that if there were no other choice. Sometimes sacrifices must be made for peace."

"Her sacrifice would've accounted for nothing," I shot back, my eyes flashing red and causing him to recoil slightly at the sight. "No, scratch that; it would've made things _worse_. Listen up."

The next picture showed a frightened and confused Yang surrounded by Atlas security with Emerald kneeling next to Mercury, who was on the ground pretending that his leg was broken.

"Cinder's next big blow will come after Yang Xiao Long defeats Mercury in the finals. Emerald and Neo will combine their semblances to trick her into attacking him while he's down, even though from her point of view she was acting in self-defense. Beacon's reputation will take a major hit and even more negativity will be stirred up amongst the citizens, at which point Cinder will need only one more spark to ignite the fire."

The next image I showed startled everyone: Pyrrha, with a horrified look on her face, standing over a certain android, now eviscerated.

"Who's that?" Qrow asked, focusing on the vivisected robotic girl on screen.

"Penny Polendina, a synthetic human created by Atlesian scientists under General Ironwood," I brought up a picture of Penny's smiling face. "A kind, sweet and innocent girl, she and Ruby become good friends before Cinder chooses to dispose of her to suit her own ends."

"By killing her live on national television?" Glynda asked.

"Yes. Cinder will take advantage of Pyrrha's emotional turmoil over becoming the Fall Maiden and use Emerald to trick her into killing Penny and exposing her true nature as an android in front of the entire world. At that moment, she'll then use her computer virus to seize control of Vale's communications and broadcast a speech that calls out the leaders of the four Kingdoms for their high and mighty attitudes and keeping secrets from the populace, while also devaluing the huntsman and huntresses into unworthy protectors.

This stirs up so much negative energy in Vale that the Grimm, with the aid of Adam Taurus and the White Fang, invade in force and overwhelm your defenses. Meanwhile, Neo breaks Roman out of confinement so he can then upload a copy of the virus into the Atlas network and turn all of the Atlesian Knights, Paladins, and everything else that's automated against the citizens as well, while he hijacks an airship and turns its weapons on the others."

I showed them clips of all those things occurring, the four of us surrounded by screens displaying the Fall of Beacon.

"Damn," Qrow added.

"It's horrible," Glynda murmured.

Ozpin remained silent, but I could feel, even taste, the tranquil rage radiating off of him.

"I'm afraid that's not all. All of this chaos will then awaken a dormant Grimm Dragon slumbering beneath Mountain Glenn."

I showed them the clip of the dragon awakening and flying off to Vale, their expressions turning into various shades of horror at the sight. When it was over, I then turned back to Ozpin with the most forlorn expression I could muster.

"And it's at this point that you pull Pyrrha aside to begin the process of turning her into the Fall Maiden."

He knew right then that bad news was coming. "What happened?"

"Jaune accompanies you two down to the Vault and stands guard while the process begins, but when he hears Pyrrha scream in pain he gets distracted long enough for Cinder to send an arrow straight through Amber's heart, killing her and causing the rest of her power to seek out its other half."

"She succeeds then?" The headmaster asked with a resigned tone.

"Yes. You'll then tell Jaune and Pyrrha to leave and go find these guys…" I gestured to Qrow and Glynda. "To bring back and help while you face Cinder alone, but in the end, Cinder destroys you, Ozpin; you die, and your soul transfers to a farm boy named Oscar where you remain dormant for the following eight months."

The headmaster's stoic demeanor finally cracked and his eyes widened his horror briefly, but while he was more reserved with his reaction, Glynda covered her mouth as Qrow grumbled: "fuck us".

"And after your defeat, Pyrrha sees Cinder making her way to the top of the CCT and chooses to stay behind and hold her off as long as she can."

I scowled and took another deep breath, the office's other occupants remaining eerily quiet as they waited for me to continue.

"She'll give everything she has, but in the end, she'll lose, and then Cinder will shoot her with an arrow that'll turn her to ash from the inside-out. Her death will be witnessed by Ruby, and the trauma will activate her Silver-Eyed Warrior powers that will critically injure Cinder and freeze the Grimm Dragon atop the now-destroyed CCT."

"Oh great," Qrow sighed.

I showed them the moment Pyrrha met her tragic end followed by Ruby's true power awakening, their expressions morphing into a mix of sorrow, fury, and awe at what transpired on screen.

"In the wake of all that, Beacon Academy is taken over by the Grimm (the Dragon acting as a 'beacon' itself), its huntsman and huntresses are scattered abroad, and the Four Kingdoms start pointing fingers at each other all while Salem basks in her victory."

"And Cinder?" Glynda asked.

"She returns to Salem to receive treatment for her wounds, and afterward vows revenge against Ruby for maiming her."

"Did Ruby make it out of Beacon?" Qrow asked, the worry in his voice palpable.

"She did because you rescued her. She then spends the next few months in Patch recovering from the whole ordeal before heading off to Haven with the remnants of Team JNPR to pursue a lead on Cinder's group, her original team having broken up due to various circumstances, but what they don't know is that 1) Leo Lionheart has now agreed to support Salem, and 2) Adam Taurus plans to assault Haven once he overthrows the current White Fang leader."

"Leo betrays us?" Glynda gasped.

"If he hasn't already."

"What of the relic?" Oz's tone was composed, but clearly frightened. "Does Salem manage to acquire it?"

"No. After rescuing Ruby, Qrow makes sure to grab your cane on the way out. It remains safe with him until you and Oscar show up in Mistral to take it back."

My answers provided the three of them with a small amount of comfort, but not enough to relieve the pressure now bearing down on them. As Ozpin stared thoughtfully at his cane (mainly the relic stored inside), Qrow and Glynda exchanged gazes that conveyed how shocked they were about how much I knew but also how unprepared they were to learn all of this. It was then that Ozpin cut the tension by setting his cane back down and taking another sip of coffee.

"Mr. Mason, what do you propose we do first to prevent Beacon's destruction?"

I smiled and then moved my wrist so the omni-tool was right above his desk. "First, we upgrade your software."

A beam of light shot out from the bracelet, connecting it to the equipment within the desk. When it vanished I pulled my arm away and stepped back, and then a second later, Liv's image appeared standing atop the terminal.

"Hello," She greeted with a wave.

"Who or what is that?" Qrow demanded.

"Everyone, this is Liv, my trusty AI companion, and closest friend. She and I have spent the last few days working out a plan to deal with Salem."

She placed her hands on her hips. "Planning is my business and business is so good."

"I just uploaded her into the CCT's entire network. Anywhere the signal can reach, she can now monitor: scrolls, radios, computers, television, you name it. She can use all of them as her eyes and ears to keep track of what Salem's associates are up to all over the world."

"That seems very extreme," Glynda pointed out.

"Yes, but necessary."

Ozpin looked from Liv back to me. "Can we trust her?"

"Hey!" The AI whined.

"Yes, Ozpin; I assure you. She and I have been through a lot together. She's never let me down before and she won't let you down either, I promise. She will be very discreet and professional about who she monitors and when."

Ozpin turned toward his colleagues and nodded before looking back to me.

"What kind of trap did you have in mind, and when will we spring it?"

"On the night of the school dance when Cinder infiltrates the CCT to plant the virus in it, that's when."

My translucent friend crossed her arms proudly. "I can conceal myself within the system and delete it the moment it's uploaded."

"At which point I'll ambush Cinder, take her far away from Vale, and then kill her," Everyone's eyes widened, so I decided to elaborate. "Once she's dead, the power she stole from Amber will return to its rightful owner and mend her body and soul, correct?"

"Maybe," Qrow guessed. "But you really think you're strong enough to do it?"

"I know I am."

"Well, shit, kid; I guess I can get behind that."

"But what do we do until then?" Glynda wondered aloud. "Just sit back and do nothing?"

"No. Until that point we interfere with her plans just enough so that she won't suspect that we're onto her as we maintain the attitudes, behaviors, and schedules she expects. We remain patient and let her carry on under the presumption that we're still in the dark as we dismantle her operations piece by piece and turn her own scheme against her."

"And by the time she realizes what's going on, it'll be too late," Qrow finished. "I like it."

"We've got a few ideas cooked up already and are baking more as we speak," my AI friend proclaimed.

Ozpin nodded before turning to his scythe-wielding friend. "Qrow, consider your mission to gather intelligence over; you're needed here."

"But keep your head down and out of sight," I interjected. "Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury still remember you; if they know you're here it could tip them off in any number of ways. Not even Ruby and Yang can know you're here, either, at least not yet."

He shook his head and grumbled. "Alright, got it."

"What about James?" Glynda added. "Shouldn't we inform him as well?"

"Later," I declared. "If we told him now, he would overreact and most likely place Vale under martial law right then and there until Cinder was found, and then everything would fall apart. If this is going to work, we'll have to keep silent and wait for him and his forces to show up next semester without additional incentive."

"Can't argue with ya there," Qrow shrugged.

"Now, are there any other questions or concerns?"

"Actually there is, Kent," Ozpin responded as he took another swig of coffee, his gaze never leaving mine. "You."

I blinked. "Me?"

"You know so much about us and our world, yet we know so little about you," Glynda explained.

"All the information in the world would be useless if the source wasn't reliable or trustworthy," Oz added.

"So c'mon kid, spill," Qrow pressed. "Just who are you exactly, ya' know, apart from being an alien?"

"Trust is a two-way street, after all," Ozpin echoed my previous statement.

He and I exchanged grins before I relented. Granted I was going to tell them anyway, but I was glad they brought it up now. "Okay, so where do you want me to start?"

"How 'bout your semblance?" Qrow began. "I've only ever seen Oz or the Maidens pull off what you did to the Geist."

"Fair enough. Well for starters, my powers don't actually come from Aura or Semblance; it was my own physical strength that killed the Geist. The humans from my world don't have Aura, period."

"How's that even possible?" Glynda questioned. "Does that mean your people don't have souls?"

"No, we do. Ours are just… different from yours."

The headmaster hummed in thought. "What is the source of your power then?"

"My primary power source is yellow sunlight, the same kind your sun emits; each and every one of my cells acts as a teeny tiny battery that collects, stores, and processes solar energy to fuel my physical abilities for long periods of time."

"What exactly is the full extent of your capabilities?" Glynda then asked.

I smirked. "Let's just say that if you thought the Maidens had unlimited power, wait until you get a load of me."

"Really?" Qrow challenged.

"I'm serious; my power has no discernible limit. I'm as strong as I need to be."

"And how did you manage to procure such power?" Glynda spoke next.

I leaned back against Ozpin's desk. "When I was sixteen, my world was hit by an event we called the 'Meta Wave,' a bombardment of cosmic energy that enveloped the entire planet and endowed hundreds of individuals with various abilities, and I was the only one given what I dubbed the "Superman archetype," basically making me the strongest of them all, even before I reached my full potential. So considering how young I was, I figured the best thing to do was become a superhero. I quickly got to work protecting the innocent, fighting supervillains and honing my skills, but two years after my career started, my world was attacked by the ones responsible for the Meta Wave in the first place."

"How strange," Ozpin thought aloud. "Why would anyone purposely create an army of super beings?"

"Because their goal was to create an army of super _slaves_ to use for galactic conquest. My world wasn't the first one they tried their little experiment on, it was the first one that _worked_ ; all the other ones they tested were destroyed, their populations wiped out. When they invaded, they didn't expect us metahumans to be as powerful as we were. Both hero and villain rallied under one banner and I led the charge to defend our home. We won, but when the invaders made it clear that they would never stop until all of us were enslaved, I pushed their transport into the sun, obliterating them."

"The sun?" Qrow repeated. "Holy shit."

"Yep, and after that, my reputation as the world's greatest hero was established," But then I frowned as I recalled the next detail. "That was seven centuries ago, my time."

"What?" Glynda gasped.

Qrow was equally shocked. "You don't look a day over eighteen."

"I know. With my powers also came a vastly extended lifespan; even though I have the smoldering good looks of a teenager, I'm actually 724 years old, and according to my calculations, I'll still live for thousands more."

Ozpin gave a thoughtful hum. "To live for so long with such incredible power would be a heavy burden for anyone."

I grinned back at him and raised an eyebrow. "You would know all about that, wouldn't you, Mister Wizard?"

He stared at me with his jaw slack before coughing awkwardly and drinking more of his coffee, the sight of the Great and Powerful Ozpin losing his cool, even for just a moment, making me laugh.

"Anyway, it was a few years after that when I met the Traveler, a member of an order created to police the multiverse. He came to my world to escape a powerful and deadly monster that was pursuing him," I lifted the omni-tool once more. "He gave me this, and I used it to transport myself and the monster to another dimension so we could fight without hurting anybody, but then I found out that the portal, once closed, was a one-way trip: I couldn't go back home.

I then dedicated myself to fulfilling the Traveler's role, and that's how it's been for the past seven hundred years: I'll go to a new universe, face down and defeat whatever evils are present there, make sure everything's in order, and then move onto the next. Rinse and repeat. I even picked up a few new tricks along the way to add to my arsenal."

"Resulting in what you see before you," Liv proclaimed. "Salem and Cinder have no idea what they're in for."

"She's right; what you saw in that video is only a fraction of what I can do," I lifted my hand and clenched it into a fist. "I'm strong enough to carry the weight of whole planets on my back, I can fly faster than the speed of light, and see and hear things trillions of miles away. I've walked across the surface of stars, cured incurable diseases, defeated so many evil beings that nothing surprises me anymore, and born witness to wonders one could only dream of. I don't need to eat. I don't need to sleep. I am not. Meant. To lose!"

Silence, before I took a deep breath and relaxed. "Anything else?"

"Hmm, no, you are excused, Kent," Ozpin permitted. "We'll reconvene at a later time to plan our next course of action."

"Understood. Either Liv or I will let you know ahead of time before the next step in Cinder's plan is initiated," I began making my way back to the elevator, but stopped half way and turned back around. "Thank you, all of you, for your time and your trust. I promise I won't let any of you down. Mark my words, Salem will fall and never rise again; be certain of that."

"Hey, before ya go, kid, I got a favor to ask," Qrow called out. "Keep an eye on Yang and Ruby for me, will ya? You've seen it yourself that they can never stay out of trouble."

"You got it," I then offered a peace sign to my AI friend. "Goodnight, Liv. Have fun."

"Oh, I will," she beamed as her projection faded back into the desk. "Tootles."

"Have a good night, everyone," I bid the others before stepping onto the elevator, but when the door shut I refocused my hearing and vision just in time to catch Qrow speaking as I made my way down.

"Well, Oz, what do you think?"

The headmaster took one last sip of his coffee.

"I believe he is telling the truth. In my long life, I have learned that sometimes the universe works in ways we cannot fathom. Our goal has always been to preserve peace in this world, but for the longest time, we have been blinded by the dark where our enemy thrives, only for a new light to seek us out and reveal how little we actually knew. Now we have a chance to turn the tide in our favor. My friends, I believe we have found our game-changer."

"Game-changer?" Liv piped up, her visage reappearing and garnering their full attention. "Let me make something clear to you all; neither Kent nor I are here to take part in this little 'game' you've got going on with Salem, we're here to destroy her and save your world because it's the right thing to do. This is not a game to him or me, this is our life! Sleep peacefully tonight knowing that Salem was doomed the moment Superman set foot on your world. You're welcome and sweet dreams."

Everyone upstairs went silent after that, so I turned off my super senses and the suppression field at the same time just as the doors opened, and then I sped away.

(X)

Half a second later, I made it back to the dorms and was walking down the hallway toward my room when I heard a commotion coming from the other side of Team RWBY's door and stopped.

"Weiss! I-I was studying, and then I fell asleep! I'm sorry…"

I smiled and pulled my hand away, opting instead to lean against the wall, cross my arms, and just listen.

"How do you take your coffee?"

"I… I don't…"

"Answer the question!"

"Uhhh, cream and five sugars!"

 _Equal parts sweet and bitter for me,_ I mused.

"Don't move… Here."

"Um… Thanks, Weiss."

"… Ruby, I think you have what it takes to be a good leader… Just know that I am going to be the best teammate you'll ever have. Good luck studying…That's wrong, by the way."

I heard footsteps before the door opened and Weiss stuck one foot out before turning back to speak to her partner, completely unaware of my presence thanks to the door blocking her view of me.

"Hey, Ruby?"

"Uh-huh?"

"I always wanted bunk beds as a kid," She then shut the door and let out a long sigh.

"Heck of a day, huh?" My sudden voice made her jump before she spun to glare at me. "Hi there."

"You have got to stop doing that."

I made no attempt to get rid of my amusement. "We'll see."

"Yes, we shall," She crossed her arms and paused awkwardly. "So, how did your meeting with Ozpin and Glynda go?"

"Alright," I shrugged. "So what were you heading off to do; it's past curfew, ya' know?'

"I was heading up to the roof."

My eyebrow rose; going up to the roof after curfew wasn't against the rules, but I was still curious. "What for?"

She averted her gaze for a moment before giving in. "To call my sister."

My eyes widened in understanding. "Winter, right?"

"Yes, and the roof is quiet and isolated. It's the only real place I can talk to her without being interrupted or bothering anyone else."

I pushed myself off the wall. "Well, don't let me keep you, just don't stay out for too long, okay?"

She smiled and gave a slight bow. "I won't, but thank you for your concern."

"No problem. And Weiss?"

"Yes?"

"I'm proud of you."

"What for?"

I gestured toward her room. "For what you just told Ruby, even though this morning you hated her guts."

I chuckled when she looked away bashfully. "A-A lot can happen in one day!"

"Yeah, I can tell."

"Look, just… if you're going in there, keep it down," She finished with a dramatic huff and then strutted off, only to pause after several steps and turn back. "And no funny business."

When she disappeared around a corner, I shook my head mirthfully and then gently grabbed the door handle. I opened the door and tip-toed my way inside, and the first thing I noticed was Ruby still busy scribbling notes onto her papers before I turned to my right and saw Blake and Yang sound asleep, the cat faunus barely making a sound while her blonde partner snored as loud as my dad used to.

And it was at that moment that Ruby saw me. She waved at me silently, and I smiled and waved back, but then she paused when she heard the sound of a bed creaking. She looked to the other side of her room and gasped, so I followed her line of sight to see what the commotion was.

Yang, still in a deep sleep, had rolled off of her bunk and was now plummeting to the floor.

I didn't think, I just reacted, and before I knew it I was standing next to Blake's bed carrying a snoring Yang in my arms bridal style. I stared down at her, paying attention to the cute little noises she made in her sleep and the steady rise and fall of her bountiful chest. But then she stirred before her eyelids parted slightly and she looked up at me. I froze, half-expecting her to scream, the other half waiting for her to punch me, but she did neither. Instead, she gave a small smile before closing her eyes and snuggling closer to my torso.

"Good dream," she mumbled before drifting off again.

Hoping that the darkness of the room concealed my blush, I gently lifted her up and placed her back on her bunk, where she rolled onto her side and faced away from me. Turning around, I saw Ruby covering her mouth to hide her own grin before she gave me two thumbs up and mouthed "thank you". I responded with a peace sign and whispered "goodnight" before heading back out into the hall.

After closing the door behind me, I thought back on the events of today. Up until now, my presence on Remnant hadn't affected things all that much, but now that Ozpin and his colleagues (now my colleagues also) knew what was coming, it was all about to change. From here on out, the changes would start piling up more and more. Soon, everything would be different, but I was ready, and soon everyone else would be too.

This school, this city, this whole planet and its people; protecting them was now my responsibility, and fulfilling it would be an absolute joy.

 _Just like every other time, right?_ My mind slipped, compelling me to pick up my pace and turn in for the night as quickly as I could. Another good night's sleep would help take my mind off of it, at least for a little while.

It hadn't occurred to me yet how often I'd been doing that lately.

(X)

 **A/N** :

SURPRISE! I told you I'd get it done quickly.

Anyway, there is something I need to correct. In the comments, I stated that Kent was just as powerful as the Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint Superman, but considering that he has centuries more experience than that Superman, Kent would actually be stronger than his namesake. I'll explain more as the story progresses.

As for his origin, this is the one I chose to stick with all these years. Probably not the most original, but hey, it works for me.

In any event, I hope to start making the next few chapters a little more action packed. Those are going to be really fun to write.

Now that this is done, I'm gonna take a little break from this story to work on the next chapter of Web of Wonder. FINALLY!

Please leave a comment/review. Constructive criticism is appreciated.


	8. Bullies and Beatdowns

The next few weeks went by without a hitch: classes were simple affairs, I helped a few students here and there with their homework, ran some errands for the teachers, and always kept my ear open for Liv's updates. Thankfully, my snarky AI buddy had nothing major to report on Cinder, Roman and their goons for the time being; they were keeping their heads down as expected. I had a few pet projects in mind that would come in handy when they made their move, but until the moment arrived, there wasn't much else to do other than sit back and wait.

Kinda hard to do when one of your classmates is getting the tar beat out of him by the school bully.

I had to give Jaune credit, though; even when on his last legs, he still had enough fortitude to stand tall and give himself a second wind. Not even getting his shield knocked out of his hands deterred his resolve, but as we would all soon find out, it was all for naught. With a cry of strength, the blonde knight quickly rushed forward again and swung his blade with all his might. Cardin raised his mace to parry and their weapons ended up locking, but Jaune quickly found himself being overpowered by his larger and stronger foe.

"This is the part where you _lose_ ," Cardin promised, bearing down on his opponent.

Jaune grit his teeth. "Over my dead-!"

And then Cardin kicked him in the gut, one that I could tell was going to leave a bruise.

As Jaune fell to the ground gasping for breath, the leader of Team CRDL raised his mace high over his head, but right before he could drop it on Jaune's head, Glynda intervened.

"Cardin, that's enough!"

Begrudgingly, Cardin relented and lowered his weapon before stepping off to the side to make room for Miss Goodwitch, who typed a few commands on her tablet.

"Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle and that the official may call the match."

As Jaune pulled out his own smaller tablet and saw how low his stats were compared to those of his teammates, I turned and frowned when I saw how sad Pyrrha looked; besides Jaune himself, she had to have been taking his lack of progress harder than anyone else. I knew she wanted to help her leader in any way she could for obvious reasons (you know, the non-platonic kind), but Jaune's inability to see the signs coupled with her desire for Jaune to be happy in spite of the fact would only hinder that. And so that was how things played out originally; they failed to realize exactly how they felt about one another until it was too late.

Not this time. _Now_ was the time to give them a little nudge. I zoomed over to where Pyrrha was standing and tapped her on the shoulder, and she turned to me with a startled expression.

"Why don't you go lend him a hand?" I whispered, pointing to her downed leader. "He needs you right now."

After collecting herself, her expression became sterner and more focused, and then she ran up onto the stage. Jaune looked up to see Pyrrha smiling down at him with her hand extended. He let out a small sigh before smirking up at her in gratitude and allowing her to pull him back to his feet, and once that was over, Glynda addressed him.

"Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your scroll during combat. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack. Or when it is better to move to a more… defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a beowolf, now, would we?"

Cardin let out a snort. "Speak for yourself…"

He failed to notice the dirty look I gave him as he walked away. Glynda waited until Pyrrha and Jaune were offstage and standing with the rest of their team before she checked her watch.

"Well, seeing as we still have fifteen minutes of class left, would any other students wish to spar? It would be the last match for today, so decide carefully amongst yourselves."

"I wanna spar!"

Everyone turned to see none other than Yang Xiao Long raising her hand so high that she had to have been standing on her tippy-toes. And that was when something occurred to me; every single day up until now, Yang would spar with at least one other student during Glynda's classes, always being the first one to volunteer the moment the opportunity arrived. Every day except for today, that is. Now I knew why.

"Very well," Glynda announced. "Miss Xiao Long, who will be your opponent?"

"Me," I shouted, earning a few gasps from the crowd, and a big excited smile from Yang.

"Mr. Mason," Glynda was surprised as well. "You finally wish to partake in combat exercises?"

"Yes, ma'am."

That was another thing; I had yet to actually enter the arena and train with any of the other students since I enrolled here. Word of my exploits during the initiation had spread to quite a few students (thanks, Nora), and some were more eager than others to see if I really was as strong as they heard. But at every instance, I respectfully turned them down, much to their disappointment. What can I say? When you are as powerful as I am, you can afford to pick your battles. But in regards to Yang, it was just a matter of time, I suppose, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to this.

"Very well then," Glynda announced. "Kent Mason, Yang Xiao Long, take your positions."

As we stepped onto opposite sides of the stage, two new screens appeared on the back wall showcasing our pictures and Aura levels. But while Yang's was the genuine article, mine, like my outfit, was mostly for show. Liv designed it and presented it to Glynda after the first day of classes, and she agreed to use it in place of my complete lack of Aura. Basically, it would keep track of how many hits I took and, depending on how hard the blows struck, lower the bar bit by bit with each one.

Only if my opponent actually _managed_ to hit me, that is.

This was supposed to be a learning experience, yes, but that didn't mean I was going to make it easy for my sparring partner.

 _Here's hoping Yang doesn't hate me too much after this._

"Students, are you ready?"

With a flick of her arms, Yang unfolded Ember Celica and took up her traditional boxing pose, grinning excitedly all the while. "Ready."

Bending my knees, I placed my left foot forward and lifted the heel, and then drew my right arm back while raising my left in front of me in an Original Okinawan Karate fighting stance, the first martial art I ever learned. "Ready."

"Then," Glynda raised her hand high above her head, holding it there for a beat before dropping it. "Begin!"

As expected, Yang kicked things off by cocking her gauntlets and then launching a volley of projectiles at me. I zipped left and right to avoid them, moving faster and faster until I almost appeared as a blur to onlookers. She kept going until her ammo ran out, at which point we resumed our previous stances and just gazed at each other.

"I think you missed," I taunted.

"I'm just working out the kinks," she responded.

She then ejected her spent shells before retrieving two sets of the close-range variant of them from her belt. After loading them into her gauntlets in the same stylish manner she did in the "Yellow" trailer, she pointed her weapon behind herself and fired. The recoil propelled her towards me like a rocket, and once she closed the distance she swung with a right hook. I caught her wrist centimeters from my face, and when she threw a punch at my gut with her other fist that I stopped too.

She looked up at me, and I down at her. We both wore matching smiles.

Not wanting to waste any more time, we jumped away from each other and then immediately rushed forward to begin the true fight, if you could call it that. Her attacks were strong and ferocious by Remnant standards, but I could read all her muscle movements and react before she even finished extending her arm for each strike she performed.

She began with several quick jabs aimed at my face, all of which I caught in the palms of my hands. Annoyed by that, she leaped back, cocked her gauntlets again, and then attempted multiple left and right hooks aimed at my head and torso. This time I used my forearms to deflect her attacks, the shotgun shells of Ember Celica failing to hit their mark and exploding harmlessly away from me. I then surprised her by stepping in close, (her most recent punch grazing my cheek as I passed) and placing my right palm on her left shoulder. I then wrapped my right leg around the back of hers, and with a gentle push sent her crashing to the floor hard enough to crater it. Not only that, but I made sure to use enough force to deplete a third of Yang's aura instantly when she hit the ground.

The spectacle made most of the audience holler and cheer at my skill, but the rest of Team RWBY (their leader in particular) cringed at how obviously that move must have hurt their teammate.

As she lay there groaning, I made a show of walking around her while rotating my shoulder, pretending that I strained myself with that little grapple. When I came to stand behind her head I placed my hands on my knees and squat down, waiting until she looked up and noticed my grinning face.

"Having fun yet?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because it looks to me like you're fixin' to take a nap. Are you _that_ bored already?"

The next time she blinked, her eyes turned red. "Not even close!"

She then performed a gauntlet-enhanced handspring to try and hit me in the face with a double dropkick. But the impact never came, and after she landed she turned to see me still squatting in the exact same place I was a second ago.

"What?" She murmured.

I really loved my super speed sometimes.

With my back still to her, I slowly stood up, and by the time I straightened my posture she was already bearing down on me. Her ensuing flurry of punches was bolstered by her anger, but unlike the last time she went on the offensive, none of them made contact with me. I maneuvered quickly enough that her fists hit nothing but open air, and with every one that missed, her frustration seemingly doubled.

"C'mon Yang," Ruby yelled. "You can do it!"

"Stay focused," Weiss shouted irritably.

"Do your best," Blake cheered, waving the little red "RWBY" flag she still had.

Even Team JNPR joined in on encouraging the blonde bombshell, but while I'm sure Yang appreciated it, all that really mattered to her right now was landing a hit on me, and how furious it was making her that she couldn't.

"Why… can't… I… hit… you… now?!" She punctuated each word with another mighty swing.

"I'll… tell… you… later…" I mocked while dodging.

At the first sign that her swings were getting slower, I smacked her fist on the side hard enough to send her whole body spinning around. Once _her_ back was to _mine_ , I pulled a similar maneuver to what I did earlier; I wrapped my right leg around her left and placed my palm on the back of her right shoulder. She caught on to what I was planning and swung her left arm back, but I caught it with my free hand, restraining her. However, some of her luscious hair smacked me in the face in the process, allowing me to catch a whiff of her scent.

"Hmm, lemon zest and sandalwood," I noted, but loud enough so only she could hear me. "Nice."

"Thanks," Yang grunted sarcastically as she tried in vain to pull free.

"You're welcome."

SLAM

When her face met the ground, another third of her Aura was erased. Both RWBY and JNPR flinched while Ruby herself started rubbing her own cheeks to soothe the sympathy pain she was feeling for her sister.

The damaged floor muffled Yang's groan of agony, but she soon managed to slowly push herself up onto her knees. Her feet came shortly after, and then she stood there hunched over with her arms hanging limply by her sides. When she saw me standing a few feet away with my hands tucked into my pockets smiling big and looking no worse for wear, she growled.

"Enjoying yourself, Boy Scout?"

"Admittedly, yes," I shrugged. "Ready to keep going?"

"Gimme a sec," she rotated her head and cracked it, sighing in relief as she began working out the kinks in her other joints.

"C'mon, if this were a _real_ fight you wouldn't have time for a break," I declared as I began walking forward, stopping when I was right in front of her. "Maybe you need a little extra incentive."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

I flashed her a smile before swiping my hand in front of her face hard and fast enough to create a strong, but brief gust of wind between the two of us. She took a moment afterward to pat down her hair, and then she noticed my overturned fist.

"What's that?" She asked, eyeing my appendage warily.

Without saying a word, I opened my hand and presented what was held within. She leaned in to get a better look, her eyes squinting for a brief second before widening as she gasped.

Resting on my open palm was a single strand of hair.

Blonde hair.

She looked back and forth between my hand and my face before settling on the latter. "No… You…"

My response was a knowingly irritating grin.

Her fists clenched, her teeth ground and her hair exploded in golden flames. Her roar of rage drowned out the cheers of her teammates as she batted my hand away with one arm and reared back the other.

"You jerk!" She thundered.

And then she swung with all her might.

But the next thing she knew, my hand was clasped around her wrist, and her fist was now pointing over my shoulder. It was then that I noticed the golden glow of her hair begin to die down; she put literally all her energy into that last attack of hers and wasted it, and now it was going to cost her.

"Good try," I spoke as I placed my palm against her soft midriff. "I honestly mean it."

I shoved her hard enough to send her sailing across the arena and crashing into the back wall. As she sank to the floor in exhaustion, Glynda made the final call.

"Miss Xiao Long's Aura is in the red," she declared. "The match goes to Kent."

Whoops and hollers went up from the other students, but Team RWBY's was more subdued. Watching your teammate get trounced was never an easy thing. But nevertheless, I walked over to where Yang sat and extended my hand out to her. She looked reluctant but nonetheless accepted my gesture. When I pulled her to her feet, she retracted her hand before walking away to join her team. As I watched her go, I felt my scroll vibrate and pulled it out, revealing a text from Liv.

-I think you made her mad. :(-

I shook my head as I texted her back. –That was the plan.-

-I know, but don't let her be fooled for too long.-

-I won't.-

"Now, remember everyone," Glynda announced after taking center stage again. "The Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale! Class dismissed!"

As the students began filing out, I walked to the edge of the stage where RWBY and JNPR were gathered. Ruby noticed me coming over, an apprehensive look on her face, followed by Weiss, Blake and the others turning toward me as well. They all backed away from Yang, whose eyes were still red, and she was looking very cross with me.

"Yang?"

"What?"

I got down on one knee at the edge of the arena. "About earlier…"

"You. Touched. My. Hair," each word was dripping with molten venom. "Nobody. Touches. My. HAIR!"

Her blonde strands reignited, causing her teammates and friends to take another step back. I sighed, honestly feeling bad that I intentionally played with her emotions like this. I wanted to set things right, but I was worried she wouldn't be receptive to what I had to say.

 _Here goes nothing._

"Actually, I didn't."

She looked a little puzzled. "Didn't what?"

"Touch your hair," I revealed the strand of hair (still in my possession) and held it between my index finger and thumb. " _This_ belongs to Jaune."

"What?" The whole group said in unison.

Yang was the most flabbergasted of them all. "You're kidding me?"

"No, I'm not. I swiped it off _his_ noggin instead of yours back there."

"B-but you didn't move a step," Ruby exclaimed. "I was watching you!"

"We all were," Weiss stated.

"We know you're fast, but that's kind of pushing it," Blake proclaimed.

"Actually, I think he might be right guys."

Everyone turned toward Jaune, stunned at what they'd heard.

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked.

"When he swiped his hand in front of Yang, I felt a rush of wind right behind me," he then began scratching the back of his head. "And something pricked me right here at that exact same moment, too."

"And don't forget how quickly he took down the Geist," Pyrrha reminded everyone.

Yang didn't quite know what to make of this. "You're serious? No bullcrap?"

"No bullcrap," I admitted.

"But you pretended it was mine just to make me angry?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"To teach you a lesson," I flicked the strand of hair away and then jumped off the stage. "C'mon, we'll talk about it over lunch."

As I walked away, the flames in her hair faded and her eyes returned to their normal color. She looked over to Ruby, who merely shrugged in confusion, and then proceeded to follow after me, the others not too far behind.

(X)

I got my lunch before JNPR and RWBY and found my way to a seat. I was in the middle of spooning some potatoes into my mouth when I heard another tray placed on the other side of the table. I lifted my gaze just in time to see Yang sit down directly across from me. She stared at me for a moment, her gaze inquisitive, before proceeding to dig into her food. We ate in silence for a few moments before she set her fork down and finished swallowing so she could speak.

"Okay, what lesson were you talking about?"

I took a swig from my cup of water first before answering. "Let me ask you something Yang: how many fights have you won _without_ using your semblance?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It has to do with the lesson I'm trying to teach you."

 _Among other things._

Apart from her loyalty to family and friends, Yang's temper was her most recognizable trait, and the most exploitable. Anyone who knew that would be able to manipulate her easily, as her match with Mercury proved in the original timeline. We all know how that turned out, but maybe I could give her a head start on fixing her anger management issues.

 _Sorry Tai, but I gotta do this._

Her face scrunched up cutely as she tried to come up with an answer, but after a few moments, she gave up and eyed me warily.

"What are you getting at?"

"I'm just saying that when it comes to combat you can be a little… boneheaded and predictable."

"Oh really?" Her pupils flashed red again for a brief moment, so I raised my hands in defense.

"Easy, I'm just trying to give you some pointers here. Scouts honor."

My reference to the nickname she gave me helped ease her nerves, hence why she gave me a small approving smirk.

"Alright Boy Scout, what kind of pointers ya got for me?"

I stabbed my fork into my meatloaf and leaned forward, lacing my fingers in front of my plate.

"Well, for starters, the reason why I asked you that is because, to put it bluntly, you rely far too much on your semblance to carry you through fights."

"But my semblance is part of who I am," she pointed out. "Why shouldn't I use it when given the chance?"

"It's not a question of you using it at all, but _how much_ ," at her questioning glance I elaborated. "I've been through my fair share of fights in my travels, Yang, and I've dealt with people like you before, people who don't realize that their greatest strength can also be their greatest weakness. Here, let me explain."

Reaching over, I gently grasped her hand, folding her fingers inward to make a fist that I pointed at my face, Yang herself offering no resistance.

"Your semblance allows you to take whatever is thrown at you and hit back twice as hard," I moved her fist so it was now aimed over my shoulder again like earlier. "But what if you miss? All that energy would go to waste and you'd be left weak and tired, otherwise known as 'easy prey'."

"Like what happened when I fought you?"

"Precisely," I lowered her arm to the side. "Charging in half-cocked without knowing what you're getting into, like a bonehead, will only get you into trouble. That, coupled with how easily you're angered, is what makes you so predictable, and by extension, easier to beat. That's how I won, and that's how you'll keep losing in the future if you don't improve _now_."

She frowned at that and slumped down in her seat, my words striking a cord in her. I half-expected her to grow furious with me and storm off, but thankfully, that didn't happen. Instead, she looked over to her right, and her eyes widened. Curious, I traced her line of sight, and that's when I saw that my hand was now resting on hers, palm to palm.

 _Well, this isn't awkward at all._

We both pulled our hands away and did our best to ignore the heat rising in our cheeks. Yang took a quick bite of her sandwich and wolfed it down before clearing her throat.

"S-so, how do you think I could improve?" She shifted her focus elsewhere, and I followed.

"Simple," I picked up my fork in one hand and my cup in the other, "You believe that strength is all that matters in a fight, that the best way to handle a problem is to go through it," I tapped the prongs against the glass, "But if you just take a second look, you'll see that there's another way around," I moved the fork around the cup to demonstrate.

Setting my dishes down, I folded my hands together again. "Here's the thing; the fact that you're so reliant on your semblance shows that your actual fighting skills are lacking in certain areas. That's where I come in. I can help you become a better fighter, but that also includes learning to control and direct your rage so _it_ doesn't control and direct _you_."

I extended my fist across the table. "That is if you'll let me. Whaddya say, Yang? Will you trust me to help make you into a better huntress?"

She thought it over for a few seconds while staring at my fist but eventually bumped her own against it. "Sure… but you have to promise to give me a rematch before graduation."

"I promise," I declared with a laugh. "Now c'mon, let's finish-"

"Hey, guys!"

We turned to see the rest of RWBY and all of JNPR approaching. Most of them had big smiles on their faces, but I could see Jaune looking downcast at the back of the group. They all took their seats around me and Yang, her team sitting on her side of the table while I ended up between Nora and Pyrrha.

"How are you guys doing?" Ruby asked.

"We're doing fine Rubes," Yang answered, and I nodded to confirm.

"That's great," the little red reaper declared. "After what happened earlier, we were all a little worried that you two would be… uh…"

"Hostile," Blake said.

"At each other's throats," Weiss added.

"Yeah… that," Ruby breathed out.

"No need to worry guys," I assured. "We talked it over and agreed that I would help improve her fighting skills while we're students."

"That's awesome," Ruby cheered.

"Yeah, it is," Jaune grumbled. I looked over and saw him resting his cheek in his palm as he absentmindedly poked and prodded and his food with a fork. No doubt he was still dismayed over his humiliating defeat not too long ago.

Pyrrha noticed him brooding also. "Jaune? Are you okay?"

"Huh?" The young knight snapped back to reality. "Oh, yeah! Why?"

"It's just that you seem a little… **not** okay…" Ruby explained.

"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously! Look!" He gave a half-hearted thumbs up while laughing nervously, but then he noticed something happening across the cafeteria and his countenance dropped instantly. Sensing something was wrong, I turned and focused my sight on what was occurring over by the adjacent row of tables.

And what I saw made my blood boil.

Cardin was doing his bully routine again, except this time the target of his bigotry was Velvet Scarlatina, a rabbit faunus and member of Team CFVY. She and I had bumped into each other a couple of times, but that was the extent of our interactions so far. Now, considering she was a second-year student as well as part of one of the most prestigious teams of huntsmen in the entire school, you would think a group of first-years like Cardin and his crew would have some level of respect for her.

Nnnnope.

Instead, Mr. High School Drama Cliché was taking sadistic pleasure in tormenting Velvet verbally before he went a step further and began harshly pulling on her bunny ears despite her pleas for him to stop.

"I told you it was real," he boasted.

"What a freak," Russel guffawed.

Now, here's a little something about yours truly; I **hated** elementary school as a kid for one particular reason. You can probably guess what it is. The rate at which I was bullied grew worse and worse during those four years to the point that my mother pulled me out of fourth grade a few months before it ended and home-schooled me just to get me away from my tormentors.

But the worst part about my situation was that I convinced myself that the best way to deal with my problem was to harden my heart and do to the bullies what they did to me. I became a bully in the process, and I still get a sickening feeling in my gut when I recall my classmate Steven curled up in the corner of the gym balling his eyes out because of the things I said to him. Once I realized what I had done, I promised myself to never become someone like that ever again, and that I would protect others from such affliction that would drive them down the same path.

Cardin's actions disgusted me, his whole team did, and I was **not** going to let this stand.

"Wow Kent," Nora said, "I didn't know your eyes could glow like that. It's so pretty!"

"Excuse me," was my only reply before I sped off. I quickly made my way over to where Team CRDL and Velvet were, and wasting no time, grabbed hold of Cardin's wrist.

My sudden arrival made the whole group freeze; even Velvet looked at me with wide eyes. Following my hand to its source, Cardin scowled and prepared to give some sort of threat, only to stop cold at the sight of my blazing eyes.

"Cardin," I said. "What the heck are you doing?"

And then I squeezed.

Crying out in agony, Cardin released his hold on Velvet, who quickly dropped her lunch tray and backed away from the gang of bullies. As she began massaging her bunny ears, I let go of Cardin and stepped in-between him and his victim.

"Are you okay, Velvet?" I asked from over my shoulder.

"Y-Yes," she sniffed, taking a break from her ears to wipe her eyes instead.

"Good," I nodded.

"Hey," I heard the leader of Team CRDL yell. Turning back toward him, I saw him rub his aching wrist as the other three members of his team slowly stood up from their seats. "What the heck are you doing?"

"I believe I asked you first," I coldly reminded him.

Gritting his teeth, Cardin got up from where he was sitting as well, hoping to intimidate me with his tall stature. It was a futile effort, despite the fact that I had to crane my neck to meet his condescending gaze.

"You shouldn't get involved in other people's business," he said, his teammates nodding.

"If my 'business' you mean 'picking on someone because I think I can get away with being a racist bigot', then yes, I'm going to get involved," I fired back.

The rest of the cafeteria had gone silent, all the other students and even the staff now focusing on the altercation occurring between the school's mediator and the all-male team of first-years.

"She's just a faunus," Cardin (weakly) defended. "Who cares if she gets a little roughed up?"

"I care," I countered, pointing my finger at him. "You have absolutely no right to treat her or anyone else like that at all. It's pathetic, and so is your team for supporting it."

"Hey, who are you calling 'pathetic'?" Russel Thrush thundered.

"You'd better watch your mouth, Kent," Cardin warned.

"Or what?" I challenged. "You're going to pull on _my_ ears and make faces at me like an immature brat? That's funny! Hahahahaha!"

"Why don't you try laughing like that to my face?" Dove Bronzewing demanded from his position on the other side of the table.

He then blinked, and when he opened his eyes again I was right in front of him, leaning across the table so my face was inches away from his, my glowing red eyes boring into his now terrified ones.

"Ha. Ha. Ha," There was no trace of humor in my voice. Each word caused his heart rate to spike exponentially, not to mention his sweat glands were now working overtime. "How's that?"

He swallowed and then slowly sat back down. Sky and Russel leaned back, now unsure if it was a good idea to provoke me. Cardin, on the other hand, wasn't quite there yet, as evidenced by how he grabbed hold of my shoulder tightly.

"You'd better back off, or else," he nearly shouted.

I didn't even bother to look at him. "Take your hand off me."

"Or what?" He echoed my earlier question. "You really expect me to believe those rumors? That you defeated a giant Grimm with just one punch? Nobody is that strong! In fact, I'm willing to bet you and that blonde bimbo were just putting on a show earlier today."

The moment he finished that sentence, I rounded on him so fast that the ensuing wind blew their trays of food off the table. Cardin was stunned at first, but he had yet to relinquish his grip on my jacket.

"You wanna say that again, Cardin?"

"Actually, I don't," he grinned devilishly, and then actually released his hold on me. "What are you gonna do about it?"

There were a lot of things I could have done: I could have shattered every bone in his body with just the sound of my voice, melted his armor off and embarrassed him in front of the entire school, or even used my super speed to take him to the other side of the world and drop him off in the wilderness to fend for himself.

Instead, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath through my nose to relax. My anger (and heat vision by extension) faded away, returning my eyes to normal by the time I opened them again. Cardin was still grinning down at me in expectation that I was about to lash out, I assumed.

"Nothing."

That caught him off guard. "What?"

"You heard me. I'm not going to do anything; it would be a waste of my time. Besides," I turned away from him. "I still need to help someone, ya know, like a **true** huntsman would?"

Ignoring his shocked expression, I made my way over to Velvet, who was equally surprised at what she just witnessed.

"C'mon Velvet, let's get you down to the infirmary and get those ears checked out."

"Oh, o-okay," she meekly agreed before she pulled out her scroll and began typing something on it.

But then I heard commotion coming from Team CRDL's table and stopped. Cardin had reached under his table and retrieved his mace, gripping the handle tightly as he reared his arm back.

 _Cardin, please don't._

"I'll teach you to be smart with me!"

He threw his weapon with all his might. Velvet noticed it coming and covered her mouth as she gasped. Yang and the others almost got up from their seats, but they wouldn't have been fast enough to do anything about it anyway.

I was.

I could hear the weapon spinning through the air and timed it just right so that when I turned around, all I had to do was extend my arm and grab hold of it. Several students gasped in awe of my feat, and even Cardin was stunned. So then, with everyone watching, I walked back down the aisle towards Team CRDL with the mace resting on my shoulder. The tall bully remained still as I approached, but his hardened expression returned once I stood before him again.

I could tell he was curious as to what I would do next. Maybe he thought I'd try to whack him with his own weapon, or possibly decide to keep it just to tick him off, but I would not give him the satisfaction.

Gently grasping the weapon with both my hands, I presented it to its rightful owner. "You dropped this."

He hadn't been expecting that at all, but that didn't stop him from wrapping his fingers around the hilt.

"This isn't over," he growled.

"It is for me," I replied, releasing my hold and turning away.

I nodded to Velvet, who mimicked my gesture, and we began walking side-by-side, passing by my former table along the way. Everyone offered me differing types of approval; Yang and Ruby each gave me two thumbs up, Weiss raised an eyebrow, Blake and Ren simply nodded, Nora fought to contain her excitement, Pyrrha smiled, and Jaune stared at me in awe.

I gave them a peace sign in return. "See ya later, guys."

"See ya," Yang called out.

The next instance, I asked Velvet permission to carry her across the school more quickly with my speed, and when she agreed, off we went. A second later we were standing outside the door to the infirmary and I quickly released my hold on her and folded my hands behind my back. I just didn't want to give her the wrong impression.

"So, will you be okay from here?"

"Yes, I'll be alright," she answered. "My team should be-"

"Velvet!"

The bunny faunus quickly turned around just in time for her extremely fashionable and sunglass-wearing friend to wrap her in a tight embrace. As the other two members of CFVY (the sagacious gentle giant Yatsuhashi and the blind but watchful Fox) caught up with them, I couldn't help but take a keen interest in Velvet's reaction to her current "predicament".

Specifically, I saw how a decent amount of her blood rushed to her cheeks immediately after she was taken into Coco's arms. Barely a second passed before the rabbit faunus closed her eyes and sighed in quiet bliss, her entire body visibly relaxing into the comforting hold of her leader, the tiniest of smiles appearing on her face as her heartbeat maintained its quickened pace.

My own lips curled upward at the sight.

"We got your message," Coco informed her teammate, running her hand down Velvet's long brown locks. "Was it Cardin again?"

"Yes," Velvet answered after a second's pause.

"I'm sorry we were late. If we weren't we could've-"

"No, don't be sorry," the bunny girl insisted, looking up into her leader's dark shades with a smile. "Besides, I still had help."

Coco gave her teammate a questioning look before noticing that I was standing a few feet away. "Him?"

"He stood up to Cardin's whole team. Scared the pants off of them and ticked Cardin off something fierce," she giggled at that last part.

Releasing her hold on Velvet, Coco walked up to me, the "click" of her shoes echoing through the hallway. Standing in front of me, I noticed that we were about the same height, owed in part to her high heels. She then reached up and lowered her shades a bit so she could study me more clearly.

"Kent, right? The mediator?"

"That's me," I confirmed. "And you're Coco Adel, Yatsuhashi Daishi, and Fox Alistair. Team CFVY."

"The one and only," she then lifted her glasses back to their original position before taking a moment to adjust the strap of her gun-purse. "So, is standing up to arrogant jerkass bullies part of your job description?"

"My 'job' had nothing to do with it. I saw that Velvet needed help and that's all the motivation I needed."

"You don't have a problem with faunus?"

"If you're asking whether or not I'm prejudiced, I'm not," I shook my head. "The faunus are just people to me, people who don't deserve the discrimination they've suffered just for being different. It's petty and stupid and I have no tolerance for it."

All four of them gave me an appraising smile, Velvet's being the brightest; her sore animal ears even perked up a little bit also. Coco then let go of the strap hanging off her shoulder and reached out to me with an open hand.

"Then that makes you okay in my book," she declared as we shook. "You did us a real solid, Kent, and you've just made some new friends because of it. Thanks."

Yatsuhashi then humbled me an honorable bow, the kind that warriors would give to each other as a sign of respect. "If you ever require our aid, all you need to do is ask."

"Yeah, what he said," Coco nodded in his direction.

"Right back at you guys," I told them, looking to Velvet in particular. "If Cardin or anybody else gives you a hard time, just let me know and I'll deal with it."

"Thank you," she said joyfully.

"You're welcome," my scroll then beeped and I checked the message, frowning at what I saw. "It's Ozpin; he wants to talk about what happened in the cafeteria."

"Are you in trouble?" Velvet asked, her ears drooping slightly in concern.

"Nah, I don't think so," I shrugged. "He probably just wants to hear my side of the story. Anywho, you guys should probably get going."

"Right," Coco agreed as she grabbed Velvet's wrist. "You still need to see the nurse, missy."

As Velvet allowed her teammates to practically drag her into the nurse's office, she gave me a quick wave. "Goodbye."

"See ya," I waited for the door to shut behind them before departing.

" _You do know that Ozpin might have something else in mind besides talking, right?"_ Liv asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, I know. Let's go see what it is."

WHOOSH

(X)

 **A/N** :

And thus begins the "Jaundice" Arc. Hah, get it?

Next chapter will be out in about a month or a month and a half. Thank you for your patience.

Please leave a comment/review and don't be afraid to critique. Your criticisms help me improve as a writer.

Stay Tuned!


	9. Ulterior Motive

One quick stroll followed by a pleasantly calm elevator ride and I was back at the headmaster's office. My mind was focused so much on what this impromptu meeting was going to be about that when the doors opened, I didn't expect to see Ozpin already standing there with his cane in hand. At the sight of my expression, he smirked amusedly.

"Mr. Mason, your response time never fails to impress."

"I owe it to my long legs," I joked. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"A few things, actually," he moved to stand next to me in the elevator. "Starting with your altercation with Team CRDL mere minutes ago."

"Word travels fast, it seems," I said as the doors closed and we began our descent.

"Indeed. I just wanted to commend you on what you did, standing up for Miss Scarlatina like that, and the student body now knows where you stand in regards to your view on faunus, a view I support, mind you."

"Thank you. Although something tells me that Cardin and his cronies aren't going to let this go so easily."

"What do you think they'll do?"

"Best case scenario," I began as I rubbed my chin in thought. "They'll focus all their attention on me and stop bullying others. Worst case scenario: they'll take their anger out on anyone who can't fight back, like Jaune."

"What will you do if it comes to that?"

"I'll handle it. But for now, mind telling me why we're going down to the Vault?"

"What makes you think I'm taking you there?"

"Because we just passed the lobby two seconds ago and haven't slowed down at all."

"… You're right," he confessed. "There are a couple of things I wanted to clear up with you and now seemed like the best time to do it."

"Alright, but I do have another class soon," I reminded him.

"There is still about twenty minutes of lunch left, more than enough time to conduct our business."

"Thanks… I guess."

The rest of the trip down was quiet after that.

 _What are you up to, Oz?_

When the doors reopened Ozpin was the first to step out. I followed closely behind and we kept a slow pace as we ventured into the bowels of the Vault. Torches alight with green flames lined the walls, and the floor was so neatly polished I could see my reflection as clear as day despite how dark it was. And at the far end of the chamber stood two individuals I didn't expect to be down here, both facing away towards where the chief occupant resided in her bed of metal, glass, and wires.

Glynda was the first to turn around. "Ozpin, Kent."

"Hey Glynda," I looked at the man next to her. "How's it going, Qrow?"

"Not too bad," he shrugged. "Although it can get pretty boring when you're tryin' to keep a low profile."

"I can relate, but you're doing a good job so far."

My eyes settled on the machine behind them, and I approached it to get a better look. I stood before the pod on the left side, and that was when I saw the scarred face of the tanned-skinned girl slumbering within. Frowning, I placed my hand on the glass between us in a show of sympathy.

"Amber," I whispered to no one in particular. "How's she doing?"

"She's stable," Ozpin said.

"Well, as stable as one can be when a piece of their soul is ripped out," Qrow deadpanned.

"Well, at least you've got a nice piece of equipment here," I quickly looked over the machine with my vision powers, committing all the details to memory before stepping away. "Is this why you brought me down here? To see if there was anything I could do for her?"

"No," Ozpin said. "You know as well as we do that there are only two options for her: either we find another host for what remains of the Fall Maiden power within her, or kill the one who stole the other half."

"You can count on option B," I promised.

"Time will tell," his choice of words concerned me. "But this relates to the first matter we need to address."

Glynda stepped forward. "You are aware of our order's purpose; it is our sworn duty to protect the Maidens and their existence from those who would seek to use their power for their own purposes."

"Like Salem?" I asked.

"Yes. Even she has had difficulty hunting them down," she cast a sorrowful look to Amber. "Until recently, that is."

"But there's another problem," Qrow chimed in. "Only three of the Maidens are accounted for: Summer, Winter… and Fall. The Spring Maiden disappeared some time ago after the weight of her responsibilities became too much for her to bear. Any leads we've found have only led us to one dead end after another."

"Which is where you come in," Ozpin joined the conversation again. "Did this… 'show' about our world make any mention of her whereabouts?"

The answer was already on my lips before he finished speaking. "Yes, it did. I believe Raven has the answer."

"My sister?" Qrow gasped. "How?"

"Shion Village. Several months after Beacon fell she and her tribe attacked it and then left before the Grimm moved in. Ruby and her friends happened upon it on their way to Haven, and you were following them the whole way. You confronted Raven personally, and when you asked if she knew where the Spring Maiden was, she refused to answer, although it was clear she was hiding something."

Qrow's teeth ground as the gears in his head kicked into overdrive. "That bitch."

"Easy Qrow," I urged. "Raven is crafty. Once we find out where they are, we'll have to be smart about how we get the Spring Maiden back."

"My dear sister won't give her up so easily."

"True," Ozpin sighed heavily. "And if Spring has fully embraced the bandit way of life, we may have to consider finding a new host for her power, if need be."

Qrow struggled with his thoughts a moment longer before retrieving his whiskey flask from his back pocket and taking a long swig.

"Aaah," he sighed as he screwed the cap back on. "You're right. I'll do some digging and we'll work out a plan."

"Don't bother; I can find her a lot faster, but right now we have more pressing concerns," I said, sure that Liv had already added that to my list. "Anywho, now that that's out of the way, what was the other thing you mentioned?"

The headmaster smirked ever so slightly as he adjusted his glasses.

"Simply put, Mr. Mason," he held up his cane for me to see. "I wish to spar with you."

 _Did I hear that right?_

"You actually want to fight me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"To see for myself if the statements you made about your abilities have any weight to them."

Despite the reason he just gave me, I knew he was up to something. There was still so little I knew about Ozpin, and his actions in the show proved that he had a lot of secrets. Still, maybe I could figure this one out if I proved myself.

"… Alright, Oz, I'll play along."

"Splendid. Now then, shall we make our way to the Emerald Forest?"

"You want to have our fight there? Yeah, sure. Qrow, Glynda, you coming?"

"You kiddin'?" the grizzled huntsman asked. "I wouldn't miss this for anything."

"I don't have any more classes today," Glynda stated with a shrug. "I guess I could come along."

"But we have to be discreet," Ozpin interjected. "If anyone spotted the four of us leaving school grounds it would arouse suspicion."

"And I do not wish to be carried there at blindingly fast speeds," the stoic teacher declared.

Glynda's request made me stop and think for a second before an idea came to me. "I got you covered. Liv?"

"Gotcha," my AI friend exclaimed from the omni-tool. "One boom-tube coming right up!"

"'Boom-Tube'?" Qrow puzzled.

KRA-KOOM

A swirling vortex of energy materialized over by the wall, startling everyone apart from Amber (coma, and all). Lightning arced around the edge before the particles cleared up, revealing the Emerald Forest on the other side of the gateway. Everyone looked to me for answers, and I responded by holding up my wrist and showing them the omni-tool again.

After that, I gestured to the new exit. "After you three."

Ozpin was the first to begin walking towards it, followed soon after by Glynda, Qrow, and myself. Once we were all through I closed the boom tube with a mere thought and took in our new surroundings. In fact, I could even see the cliff and the hole I made in it from where I stood.

"Not a bad mode of transportation," Qrow mused.

"Yep," I said as I noticed the solitary boulder resting in the center of the field, "Boom-Tubes can take you anywhere across the universe you're fixin' to go."

A sudden cough drew everyone's attention to Ozpin. "Glynda, Qrow, perhaps the tree line would provide the best view of our little match."

Heeding their superior's suggestion, the stoic teacher and grizzled huntsman hastily made their way to the designated "safe" area, but neither I nor Ozpin bothered to watch them leave. Our gazes were hard, focused and determined as we stared each other down. The air around us was eerily quiet and tense, save for the wind that caused the nearby trees to sway in its hold.

"You know," I spoke up. "'Little' is not how I would describe what's about to happen."

"Perhaps," he then gripped his cane in one hand and then flipped it so he was now holding it in reverse. "Now then, shall we begin?"

"Sure."

From there, we only had to wait a few moments until we heard the distant rustling of leaves fade away into nothing and the blades of grass stood ridged. The wind had stopped.

As good a signal as any.

Ozpin made the first move and rushed forward blindingly fast. Once he closed the distance he thrust his cane out, aiming for my midsection, but I sidestepped to avoid his lunge. Realizing he had missed, he skid to a halt and then swung his arm back at my head. I ducked low to avoid it and felt the tingle of green lightning dancing across my scalp and shoulders for the briefest of seconds. I smirked up at him, and he huffed before planting his feet and attacking me with dozens of hypersonic jabs, the same technique he used against Cinder in the volume three finale.

One arm and two fingers were all I needed to defend myself.

With each strike I blocked, Ozpin grew more and more annoyed at his inability to land a blow. Fueled by his frustration, he turned up the dial on his speed to try and strike me from all sides instead of the front. He was now moving fast enough that he spawned three afterimages of himself, each one a translucent green copy of the original. Now that he was upping his game, I had to up mine as well.

So I used _two_ arms and _four_ fingers instead.

PINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPING

His attacks were fast, but my arms were faster, moving so swiftly that it appeared as though I had suddenly grown multiple new appendages to counteract Ozpin's onslaught whichever way it came. The hundreds of small but powerful impacts caused the ground to quake, and the shockwaves had kicked up a windstorm around the two of us. Soon enough though, Ozpin grew tired of his current strategy and decided to try and catch me off-guard by raising his cane over his head and bringing it down to try and jam it into my skull. I saw it coming and vanished before his very eyes, resulting in a very thick cloud of dust getting kicked up around him from the impact instead, along with a few large chunks of the ground sailing in all directions.

I watched the display from my spot on the big stone not too far away. I was about to make some witty comment when a sudden burst of wind then cleared the obstruction away, and I saw Ozpin holding his cane with both hands, but now the handle was pointed at me. Within the glass orb on the handle's grip, a green light was emanating, and as it glowed brighter lightning of the same color discharged out of it. In the next instance, the cane released a powerful beam of energy at me, scorching the ground as it traveled. I leaped into the air right before the boulder I sat on was vaporized and a large section of the trees behind it was reduced to smoldering charcoal.

I touched down facing the devastation. "Whoa, good thing Qrow and Glynda weren't near that."

"Don't lose your focus," Oz said.

I turned just in time to see him twirl his cane for a second and then jab it into the ground. He closed his eyes and lowered his head in concentration as his aura manifested, appearing as a calm emerald fire all across his prone form. Lightning arced around him as pieces of rubble strewn about began to rise into the air. He then slowly stood to his full height, and when his eyes opened again they were aflame with his power.

"Hmm," I nodded approvingly. "Now we're talkin'."

WHOOSH

BOOM

From there we became two blurs, one green and black and the other blue and red, chasing each other across the field and beyond. Whenever we were close enough he'd swing or lunge and I'd block, the ensuing collision carrying enough force to crater the earth beneath the point of impact. We'd then break away from each other before rushing right back into the fray, this process repeating several times over the next few seconds. Dozens of trees were reduced to mulch as were tore our way through the woods, and even a couple of Grimm met their demise for being in our path.

It was kind of funny in a mundane way.

After blocking another strike, I found myself sailing through the air before I planted my feet right at the edge of the chasm where the initiation concluded. I took one second to look at the cliff behind me to admire my handiwork from that day before I heard Ozpin burst into the clearing. He scowled at me, and the fire in his eyes had yet to go out, both figuratively and literally.

He gripped his cane with both hands to charge up another attack, a dome of green energy surrounding him and growing in intensity. Then he threw his arms out and the dome washed over the entire clearing. I guess he thought he would have a better chance of hitting me this way, but he was wrong. I simply jumped so high into the air that I was well out of range, and I observed from the skies above as the clearing was reduced to a glass floor, destroying all the ancient stone columns as well. I touched down directly behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned and noticed me I placed the tip of my finger on the bridge of his glasses and pushed them back into place.

"You glasses were falling off," I said with a grin.

He clearly wasn't expecting that, but then he grit his teeth and swung again. I was already gone before his arm finished straightening out, setting myself down on the edge of the stone structure in the middle of the chasm.

"Feels good cutting loose once in a while, doesn't it?" I shouted across the gap.

It was then I noticed that Ozpin was starting to get winded. As he turned towards me the emerald flames that represented his Aura faded away, as did the light in his eyes. But he still maintained his battle-ready stance, even as he panted for breath.

"Yes it does," he answered back. "And yet you haven't so much as thrown a single punch since we began. One would assume you were holding back."

"Would you be offended if I was?" I shrugged.

"Not necessarily, but while I'll admit that your defensive capabilities are extraordinary, I am still not entirely convinced of your power."

I remained silent as he goaded me, waiting for the perfect moment.

"So I would appreciate it if you would show me what-"

He stopped talking once his brain registered that I was now right in front of him.

Acting on instinct, he thrust his cane out for the umpteenth time, but it passed right through me like I was made of air. As my afterimage faded into nothingness, he became aware of the fact that I was about to get the drop on him again. Right as he finished turning around, I swiped my left hand and snagged his cane while at the same time rearing my other arm back for a punch. He stared in horror as my fist got closer and closer to his face, moving too fast for him to form any kind of defense.

But at the last second, my attacked veered off course and went right past his head.

WHOOOOOM

We kept our eyes focused on each other, ignoring what was happening behind him until the air-cannon born from my punch died down. When I retracted my fist I gestured for him to see the results of my intentional misfire, and when he did, he became stiff as a board.

I put more force into this punch than I did against the Geist, and it showed. The entire cliff was now **gone** , reduced to a flat piece of land that stretched back over a quarter mile. Any portions of the ruins that were also between my fist and my target were also obliterated. While his jaw hung slack, I approached his side, twirling his cane around in my hand nonchalantly.

"Satisfied?"

"… Yes," he managed to say.

"Good," I then looked down at his weapon still in my hand. "You know, I was a little surprised when you decided to use the relic."

"It seemed like a legitimate strategy at the time."

"Maybe, but it's nothing I haven't faced before. Dealing with objects of immense power is par for the course in my career. Plus I've trained with some of the best to build up a resistance to supernatural forces like your magic."

He hummed as he picked a piece of wood out of his hair. "It makes me wonder; is there anything you _haven't_ done in your ventures across reality?"

Before I could answer, Liv beat me to it. "Yeah, he hasn't been on a date yet."

I saw a blue light out of the corner of my eye and thus lifted my arm so I could glare at my friend. Her small form was sitting on my forearm, her legs crossed as she held a bucket of virtual popcorn in her lap.

"Did you enjoy the show?" I asked through gritted teeth, trying to hide my embarrassment over her little confession.

She picked one of the kernels out of the bucket and brought it to her lips. "What makes you say that?"

CRUNCH

Her projection disappeared when I tried to mock slap her, but then I saw the cane still in my hand. I allowed my curiosity to drive my actions as I opened the glass compartment in its hilt. I ignored Ozpin's cry of alarm as I gently retrieved the relic. It was only about the size of a large marble, but I could both see and feel the immense power contained within as it rested in my palm.

"Such a small little thing," I murmured.

I was reminded of when I held an Infinity Stone for the first time (and now that I think about it, the similarities between them and the four relics was almost uncanny). Back then, I respected the stones' power and understood that it did have its uses, but I was also aware that the temptation to use it for what I believed was right was a dangerous slippery slope. Plus it also unnerved me that I was holding something that the people of Remnant had killed each other over in times past.

So I placed the relic back into the cane, closed the compartment and then offered it back to its rightful owner. The tension in his body evaporated instantly as he took it back gratefully.

That was when I heard Glynda and Qrow finally catch up with us. By now, the scorched clearing had cooled enough to form a thin layer of glass that crunched beneath their feet as they walked over. Upon reaching us, they stared in awe at the devastation I wrought on the landscape.

"Holy shit," Qrow breathed out.

"How are we going to explain _this_ to the students?" Glynda wondered aloud.

"Easy," I said. "Just tell them that a few Grimm were getting too close to the school, so Ozpin and I came out here and dealt with them."

The headmaster rubbed his chin as he considered this. "It's not _entirely_ untrue. We'll make it work."

"Good. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to know the _real_ reason why you wanted to fight me."

The look on his face was almost priceless. "You believe I am keeping something from you."

"Oh c'mon Oz, you always have an ulterior motive. Like how you let Ruby into Beacon two years early because you wanted the power of her silver eyes. And then there's Jaune; why'd you allow him to enroll despite his transcripts being fake, hmmm?"

"Wait, Jaune Arc's transcripts were **fake**?" Glynda repeated.

"What's the big deal?" Qrow asked. "So were mine and I turned out pretty okay."

"That's not the point!" she snapped at him. "But it is debatable!"

"Friends," Ozpin interjected, silencing them both rather abruptly before he looked back to me. "You are right, Kent; the truth is I wished to see if I could hold my own against you should the worst come to pass."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "And by 'worst' you mean…?"

"… That you would betray me," he sighed. "As so many others have done before."

"Was Hazel one of them?" I might as well of hit him with a bolt of lightning at the mere mention of that name.

"You know of Hazel Rainart?"

"Only that he's someone for your past, but now he's part of Salem's inner circle along with Tyrian Callows, Arthur Watts, and of course, Cinder. Liv will show you the dossiers we made of them soon."

Qrow grabbed hold of his flask again. "Well, my shit-list just got a whole lot bigger."

"All in due time, Qrow," the cane-wielder promised.

"Ozpin," I moved so I was now directly facing him, and he did the same to me. "I'm on your side. Even though I just got here, I care about this world a lot. I don't just want Salem destroyed, I want to give the people of Remnant, both humans and faunus, a chance to live for something other than just killing Grimm and surviving long enough to see tomorrow. I want to help, but you need to trust me. I've been a superhero for over seven hundred years; this is what I live for. I know what I'm doing, and I won't let you down."

He stared down at me for a moment longer before a pleased smile slowly crossed his face. From behind him, Qrow raised his flask in a silent toast to my words, while Glynda seemed almost perplexed by my motivations.

"It is… reassuring to hear you say that," his smile then disappeared as quickly as it came. "But you should know that destroying Salem may prove more difficult than you realize."

"How so?"

"Even if you did kill her, she wouldn't stay dead for long," Qrow vaguely revealed.

"Oh, I see," my brain had already connected the dots. "She's one of those types that can resurrect herself after death, huh?"

"Exactly," Oz continued. "Whenever she perishes, her soul transfers to the body of the nearest Grimm, and over time that Grimm changes into her true form as her power grows."

"And how many times have you killed her?"

"Once," then he removed his glasses and held them gently in his fingertips. "It was thousands of years ago, before huntsmen and kingdoms. I was tasked by the gods with stopping Salem when she first rose to power, and after I dealt the 'killing' blow I believed I had succeeded. But when I learned the truth, that Remnant's greatest threat still endured, the gods placed a curse on me; I would never see death until my task was done. Every time I die, my soul merges with that of a like-minded person, who also gains all of my memories."

Another moment passed of him looking at his reflection in the lenses before he placed them back on his face. "The man you know as 'Ozpin' is simply the culmination of thousands of individuals who have tried to eliminate Salem and failed all throughout the ages."

"But it can be done, right?" I pressed. "She can be killed permanently if there are no Grimm for her to transfer to?"

"Yes."

"Alright then; that's all I needed to hear," I grinned, patting Oz on the shoulder as I walked passed him. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I should get back to Beacon; lunch will be over in three minutes."

"Hold on, Kent," Qrow called out, making me stop and turn back. "You're really serious about this? You're talkin' about killin' Salem and **all** of the Grimm; no one's ever gotten close to accomplishin' that."

"Can you really succeed where everyone else has failed?" Glynda followed up, and I could also see a tiny hint of doubt in her and Ozpin's face.

I had been asked those questions literally thousands of times over the last several centuries, and it got old a long time ago. I tried to not feel so agitated, but it seemed that no matter what world I went to or how strong I was, I would always have to deal with this sense of skepticism people felt when I challenged something they believed was unshakable.

 _Oh well, time to give them the spiel._

"Guys, my entire **life** has been nothing but succeeding where others have failed. I'm not concerned about whether or not I can destroy Salem and the Grimm because I have no reason to be. As I told you all before, when it comes to vanquishing the forces of evil, I've seen and done it all: tyrannical demigods, armies of darkness, even galaxy-spanning empires. I'm still here, they aren't! Killing the unkillable is just another day that ends in 'Y' for me, so please, don't worry, and have yourselves a nice day."

WHOOSH

(X)

After Kent departed, the three veteran huntsman were left standing at the cliff's edge alone. After a few moments of awkward silence, realization struck them.

"How are we getting back?" Glynda wondered aloud.

"We walk, of course," the immortal pointed his cane at the destroyed forest. "Mr. Mason and I took the liberty of carving a path through the woods."

"Yeah yeah, ya showoff," Qrow grouched. "Catch ya later."

A split second later he took to the skies in his avian form, his wings carrying him higher and higher until he disappeared over the horizon.

"Hmph, now who's showing off?" Glynda murmured.

(X)

 **A.N** :

Another one down. A bit shorter this time, but I'll get back to the whole Jaundice matter next chapter.

I was really looking forward to writing this fight. It was inspired by Saitama vs Genos from OPM; just replace Genos with Ozpin, and Saitama with Kent, and there's your reference.

Please leave a comment/review; your criticisms help me improve as a writer.

Stay tuned!


	10. Pep Talks and Pondering

I made it to my next class with exactly one minute to spare, waving to Yang and the others before taking my seat. Dr. Oobleck's class always gave me a sense of nostalgia; it brought back fond memories of my favorite high school teacher, Mr. Cross. Don't let his name fool you; he was a pretty awesome guy who was very passionate about teaching American and Michigan history. I guess I grew to love his class because I was very passionate about the material as well. And to top it off, every day he would sell his candy bars to his students for a dollar a piece and then give the money to cancer research.

I wondered how much money Oobleck would have made if he sold his students coffee instead of drinking it all himself. Seriously, I could literally see the caffeine flowing through his veins, enough to kill a large horse. Did he have a rare condition or was his semblance's effectiveness dependent on how much he consumed? I didn't know.

I observed from my seat located on the top tier and furthest to the left that Jaune had already passed out in the middle of the good doctor's lecture, something Cardin was privy to. The bully was currently in the process of creating a paper football to launch at his unaware target, and I was keeping track of his progress as Ooblek zoomed around the classroom spouting facts about the Faunus War.

"Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War? Yes?"

"The battle at Fort Castle," Weiss answered.

"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

Cardin had finished constructing his small projectile and was about to launch it at Jaune's head. Just before that, though, I crumbled a blank sheet of notebook paper into a ball and flicked it at him. Despite its small size, it made Cardin's head jerk like he had been smacked with a brick, his aura lighting up to absorb the blow.

"Hey," he shouted, looking in the general direction it came from to try and find the culprit.

"Mr. Winchester," Oobleck exclaimed, blurring over to Cardin's seat. "Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?"

The bully masked his unpreparedness with a forced cough. "Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an _animal_ than a soldier."

 _Do_ _ **not**_ _set his hair on fire,_ I told myself as Oobleck shook his head in disappointment.

"You're not the most _open-minded_ of individuals, are you, Cardin?" Pyrrha asked.

"What? You got a problem?" He glared back.

"No, I have the answer. It's night vision; Many faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark."

"General Lagune was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep," Blake added. "His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured. Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure."

Cardin growled at that little jab and got up from his seat, fists clenched, but Oobleck intervened before he could go any further.

"Mr. Winchester, please take your seat," Cardin begrudgingly obeyed, but then a loud snore drew the good doctor's attention toward Jaune, still fast asleep. A disappointed frown crossed his face before he picked up Cardin's paper football and flicked it at the sleeping Arc, startling him awake. "You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings."

"What?" Jaune blanched before slumping in defeat. "Ohhhh…"

Oobleck then sped over to my seat. "And Mr. Mason?"

"Yes, doctor?"

"I would also like you to be there."

"Okay," I nodded, having a good idea what he wanted to talk about.

"Thank you. Now, moving on!"

After that, the class proceeded as per normal. Well, other than the fact that Cardin's face was scrunched into a perpetual scowl and Jaune looked like he had just watched a puppy get hit by a car. But soon enough, the bell rung and the students began filing out. As I made my way across the top row toward the closest aisle, I noticed Pyrrha following Ren and Nora out of the classroom before stopping and saying that she'll wait for Jaune. She peeked back into the room and I gave her a thumbs up before quickly making my way down the stairs. Jaune had moved to the seat across the aisle while Cardin had plopped down where the former used to be sitting. The disgruntled bully was adamantly refusing to even look at the rest of us, but the good doctor didn't seem to mind. After I had taken my position in between the other two students, he took a sip of coffee and then finally spoke.

"Jaune Arc. Cardin Winchester. You two have been struggling in my class since day one! Now, I don't know if it's a lack of interest or just your stubborn nature, but whatever it is, it stops now! Which is where you come in, Kent Mason!"

"Yes?"

Another swig, this one longer than the last. "I understand that your position as mediator grants you the freedom to decide which students receive your aid, but I have seen a noticeable improvement in the grades of those you have already helped."

"Thank you, doctor," I smiled. "I'm glad to hear it, although I feel that the real credit should go to them. They made the choice to let me help them; that's what matters."

"Truer words," he agreed before gesturing to Cardin and Jaune. "I only hope that these two will make the same choice."

I looked to my right and saw Jaune looking at me in confusion. Then I looked to my left and saw Cardin still trying to burn a hole into the far wall with his glare.

"You're putting me in charge of them?"

"Yes, I am!"

"Hold on…" Cardin said as he slammed his hands on the desk. "You can't seriously expect me to work with these two!"

"Yes I can, and you will," Oobleck stated, his voice even and tone serious. "You've worked hard to gain entrance to this school, and we only accept the best of the best, so I expect you to act like it. History is important, gentlemen! If you can't learn from it... you're destined to repeat it. Pages fifty-one to ninety-one! I want an essay on my desk by next class! See to it that they get it done, Mr. Mason!"

"I'll do my best, doctor."

"Good. Now, run along!"

And he was gone. His caffeine-induced super speed was admittedly intriguing, but compared to what I've already seen and even demonstrated myself, he still had a long way to go before he could compete with the best.

 _I wonder if I could beat Travis now,_ I thought, remembering one of my old friends from my home universe. But I quickly caught myself and pushed that memory back down before it could take me too far. Coughing awkwardly, I walked back up the stairs, Jaune and Cardin close behind.

Once we were out in the hall, the bitter bully made sure to push Jaune to the ground before walking away, scoffing at the glare I gave him in response. Thankfully, Pyrrha was quick to react and helped her dejected leader to his feet. I frowned at his plight and put my hands comfortably into my pockets. That was when I felt a piece of paper (which I **know** wasn't there before) and pulled it out. The parchment was pink, but the lettering was white.

It read, "Just say the word and I'll break his legs."

I blinked at the small piece of parchment before looking up and down the hall to see if I could spot Nora, but when that didn't work I flipped on the super senses and found her and Ren back at JNPR's dorm, one meditating and the other listening to some tunes on her headphones. Then she turned and looked at me, and I mean _right at me_ from all the way on the other side of the academy, through the walls and everything, and winked.

… _Um, Liv?_

 _I saw it._

 _Good. You know what to do._

 _Add her profile to the "It's [BLANK], don't question it" folder?_

 _That's the one._

 _Done. Now, watch your right._

Looking in the direction indicated, I saw Pyrrha dragging Jaune away before both of them disappeared around the corner. I grinned knowingly at where they were going and followed suit. They eventually made it to the roof of the first-year dorms, closing the door behind them. I remained on the other side, observing as the pair approached the edge and stared in awe at the glowing green orbs of Beacon Tower. I then looked down and saw Cardin peeking out of his dorm window, eavesdropping intently, so I activated the suppression field again but tweaked the settings a little bit. Now, to Cardin or anyone else outside of its range, all they would hear was nonsense and hopefully, lose interest.

 _Let's see you try and blackmail him now, Winchester._

"Pyrrha, I know I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not _that_ depressed," Jaune stated as he looked over the edge, much to Pyrrha's confusion. "I can always be a farmer or something."

Pyrrha looked back and forth between him and the roof's edge a few times before realization dawned on her, as did horror.

"N-No," she quickly pushed him away from the edge. "That's not why I brought you up here…"

 _Yeah, what the heck, Jaune?_

"Jaune, I know that you're having a difficult time in class and that you're still not the strongest of fighters, so… I want to help you!"

"W-What?" Jaune didn't seem all that excited at the prospect.

"We can train up here after class where no one can bother us!"

"You think I need help?"

"N-No, that's not what I meant."

"But you just said it."

 _He's got a point there, Pyrrha._

"Jaune, everybody needs a little push from time to time," the redhead pressed. "It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us. You made it to Beacon! That speaks volumes of what you're capable of!"

But Jaune turned away from her. "You're wrong. I-I don't belong here."

"That's a terrible thing to say; of course you do!"

"No, I don't," Jaune proclaimed angrily, rounding on Pyrrha and causing her to take a step back in bewilderment. "I wasn't really accepted into Beacon."

"Wh-What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked as he turned around shamefully.

 _Oh boy, here we go._

"I mean I didn't go to combat school, I didn't pass any tests. I didn't earn my spot at this Academy," his voice rose higher and higher with each confession before he turned to look at her again. "I lied. I got my hands on some fake transcripts and I lied!"

"What?" But… why?"

"'Cause this is always what I've wanted to be," he turned away again. "My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one, too. I was just never good enough."

Without any hesitation, Pyrrha approached him and placed her hand on his shoulder "Then let me help you."

"I don't **want** help! I don't **want** to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!"

"Jaune, I-"

"I'm tired of being the lovable idiot, stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! Don't you understand? If I can't do this on my own... then what good am I?"

 _And there's my cue._

As Pyrrha reached out to try and console him, I opened the door with a loud "slam", causing her to jump. Jaune, however, was so startled that he came close to falling off the edge of the building, but Pyrrha managed to grab hold of him and pull him back.

"You okay?" I asked him as I approached, and he nodded. "Good, now could you please do me a favor and _stop thinking so little of yourself?!_ "

Both of them recoiled at my small outburst.

"Wh-What?" Jaune stammered, but then it clicked. "Wait, you heard all of that?"

"I did."

"Even the part about…?"

"Your transcripts being fake? Yeah, I already knew, and so did Ozpin."

"Ozpin knew?!" The pair blurted out simultaneously.

"Yep."

"A-And he let me into Beacon anyway?" The blonde knight asked, flabbergasted by this revelation.

"Yes."

"Wh-Why?"

"Because he saw something in you," I poked him in the chest for emphasis. "Something Pyrrha sees in you, that _I_ see in you: a potential for greatness just _waiting_ to be tapped into."

 _I'm 95 percent sure that's what he saw, anyway._

"B-But you know the truth," he went on, looking down in defeat. "I've never done anything worthy of being called a huntsman, let alone a hero."

"Not yet."

My declaration hit the right button, as he looked back up with wide eyes, hope and doubt warring within them. Taking another step closer to him, I placed my hands on his shoulders and looked him dead in his corneas.

"Jaune, listen to me; you are so much stronger than you think you are. I really mean that. I agreed to help you improve not because Oobleck told me to, but because I believe in you. I believe that you _can_ be a hero, but what's more important is whether or not **you** believe you can. Do you?"

He swallowed visibly. "I… I want to."

"Well then, until you do," I nodded in the direction of his partner. "Pyrrha and I will just have to believe **for** you."

Jaune looked at her, and she smiled before gently grasping his hand in hers. "I… We're here for you, Jaune."

"There's no shame in relying on others, dude. Heroes are strong, sure, but a hero with his friends alongside him is even _stronger_."

At last, he blinked. "I… never thought of it like that."

"Well, now's a good time to start," I let go of him and stepped back, and watched as he smiled for the first time that day.

"Thanks, guys, this means a lot," he told Pyrrha and me.

"It's no problem," Pyrrha assured him. "We're partners after all."

"I'll check in every now and then to see how your progress is coming along. Although," I cast a sly grin toward the champion beside him. "With Pyrrha helping you out, you should be fine."

Jaune then gave Pyrrha an excited smile, prompting her to turn away to try and hide her blush.

 _Nailed it!_

"What are you dorks blabbering about?"

The three of us turned toward the doorway to find Cardin standing there, the sight making Jaune tense up almost immediately. As Pyrrha moved closer to him as an act of assurance, I decided to deactivate the suppression field; the danger had passed so there was no need for it now.

"See you two tomorrow."

Jaune and Pyrrha took the hint and started walking towards the exit, only for Cardin to grab Jaune's shoulder as he walked passed.

"I asked you guys a question," he sneered at the blonde.

"Knock it off," Jaune said.

"Cardin," Pyrrha growled. "Let. Him. Go."

"You'd better listen to her, Cardin," I told him. "They don't call her 'champion' for nothing."

Winchester took another look at the redhead and saw the anger in her eyes. It wasn't until her fists clenched and her posture straightened that he got the message and let go of his prey. Pyrrha immediately went to her partner's side before looking back to me, concerned about leaving me alone with the school bully. I nodded silently, and she understood, taking Jaune and closing the door behind them, leaving Cardin and I by ourselves on the roof.

"Well? Are you going to answer me?" he asked.

"I would've already done that by now had you not wasted time picking on Jaune _again_ ," I coldly pointed out.

"What can I say?" He shrugged. "Someone has to remind him of his place."

"His 'place' is not for you to decide," I stated as I began walking towards him until we were shoulder to shoulder. "If you keep up this bully routine of yours, there _will_ be consequences. Sleep on that tonight."

I took one step before he put his hand on my collar to stop me. "Sooner or later, you _are_ going to mess up. You can't protect them all the time."

"Maybe not," I grinned. "But that won't stop me from trying. Now, make sure you get that essay done. I'll look it over tomorrow before Oobleck's class. Goodnight."

I left after that, slamming the door behind me before speeding back to my room. Once there, I sat on my bed and began considered a new angle to deal with Cardin. If he wasn't going to listen to my warnings, I was going to need some ammo when the bullets started flying.

"Liv, find me everything you can on Cardin. Comb every database."

What I'd seen of the show didn't give any backstory on him, but I could fix that, and hopefully use it end this whole debacle relatively peacefully.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

 _Huh?_

"Just a sec," I called out as I approached the door, not bothering to use my x-ray vision to see who it was. Sometimes it was fun to be surprised, and I was as I opened the door to reveal… "Yang?"

"Hey there," she greeted with a smile.

"Hi," I felt my face heat up when I saw that she was wearing her orange tank top and boy shorts combo again. Catching myself, I swallowed my nervousness and then dispelled it with a cough. "…So, what brings you by?"

She looked away bashfully and began rocking on the soles of her feet, a light shade of pink dusting her cheeks. "Well, a lot happened today, ya know, with Cardin and your meeting with Ozpin. Sooo, I just wanted to see how you were doin'."

"Oh, well, I'm doing fine. The meeting went alright and Cardin is manageable. Thanks for checking in on me."

"No problem."

We both went silent, not sure what else to say, so I gave voice to the first thing that popped into my head.

"… I've also decided to help Jaune out."

"Oh, good. He sure needs it."

"Yeah, though Pyrrha will be in charge mostly. I'll just be checking in on how he's improving."

"Nice."

"Yeah."

"…"

"…"

"… That was a cool thing you did, helping Velvet."

"Thanks."

"…"

"…"

"You're doing great, sis," whispered a third voice from above us.

I recognized it instantly without having to look up. I gave Yang a knowing look, and she sighed now that her accomplice had been caught. Smirking, I slammed my fist on the doorpost hard enough to shake the newcomer (also clad in her pajamas) from her perch and send her crashing on top of her older sister. I chuckled at the sight of the two girls trying to untangle themselves from the pile of red, black and yellow they had now become.

"You really need to work on your stealth, Ruby," I told her whilst folding my arms across my chest.

"Oh yeah?" She jumped back on her feet, a cute pout etched onto her features. "W-Well… you have weird feet!"

She then disappeared is a puff of red rose petals, and I was left looking down at my own two feet. The only "weird" thing about them was that, in their relaxed state, they were angled so the toes were pointing away from each other instead of straight forward like most other feet.

"What's so weird about that?"

"Eh, nothin' really," Yang said as she stood back up. "That's just Rubes being Rubes."

"Yeah. How's she doing by the way? As leader, I mean?"

"Well, she is taking things a little more seriously. Even Weiss is noticing."

"That certainly is an accomplishment," I joked, and we both shared a laugh.

"Oh, now I remember why I came by," the bombshell piped up. "I wanted to give you something."

She then reached into her cleavage and pulled out a small piece of paper (uncaring of the fact that I was staring again) and held it out to me. Shaking my head clear, I took it and inspected the series of numbers scribbled on it.

"Is this your scroll number?"

Her blush intensified, but only in the slightest. "Yeah, so we can… ya' know? Plan our training schedule. Together. Ya' know?"

A moment passed where all we did was smile at each other, neither of us willing to admit that we didn't want it to end just yet. But you know what they say: "all good things…"

"Thanks, Yang. I'll text you tonight so you'll have mine."

"Awesome."

"Yeah," I sighed as I reached for my door. "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Boy Scout."

She began walking down the hall at a steady pace, but when she looked over her shoulder and saw me watching her leave, she giggled under her breath and half-jogged/half-skipped until she vanished around the corner. Only then did I shut the door and move to my bed again, and after I finished adding Yang's number to my own scroll, Liv appeared on the screen.

"So now you two are in the texting phase, hmm?" She grinned.

I frowned and rubbed my eyes. "I know what you're trying to do, Liv."

"I'm trying to get you to admit that there's something between you and Yang," she explained calmly, but also with a firm edge to her tone.

"You're right," I admitted as I fell back upon my bed, folding my arms behind my head to act as a cushion. "There is something between us."

Her small form manifested lying belly-down on my chest, her chin resting in her palm and her feet dangling in the air. She had that look on her face, one of a concerned sister worried about her sibling. We were practically family, after all.

"Then what's up?" She asked. "This is when you usually tell the girl that you just want to be friends, but you didn't."

"Yeah, I know."

"Why?"

I breathed in and let out a deep sigh through my nose. "I'll have to get back to you on that."

If she was disappointed by my response, she didn't show it. "Well, don't take too long. Unanswered questions annoy the heck out of me, especially if they aren't solved before we move on."

She disappeared after that, leaving me to stare listlessly at the ceiling, and despite my hopes, it offered no wisdom or counsel for my current dilemma.

A lot _did_ happen today: I fought Yang, became her tutor, and got her number, went toe-to-toe with Ozpin, helped improve Jaune's self-esteem a lot sooner than it had originally, declared my views on Faunus discrimination in front of the whole school, stood up to Cardin _twice_ and prevented his whole blackmail scheme, and made new friends in Velvet and Team CFVY. In the past, I've accomplished far more in even less time; comparatively speaking, today was a cakewalk. Nothing I haven't done before.

So why did the thought of leaving this world and its people, whose lives I'd already made a significant impact in, something that had become routine to me, create such a cold, steadily growing sense of dread in me? Why now and not before?

"Move on," I repeated to the silence. "To where?"

No reply came to me.

(X)

 **A.N** :

I might have gotten this out sooner if not for the holidays. Oh well. Happy New Year!

FYI: In light of the most recent episode, I made a minor change to the previous chapter regarding the Spring Maiden. See, I want this story to be as close to canon as possible, while also leaving enough room to tell the story that I want to tell. So, depending on how the canon timeline progresses, I may do so again in future chapters in light of the new information the show provides. I hope that makes sense.

Please leave a comment/review. Your criticisms help me improve as a writer.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned!


	11. Good Ol' Uncle Walt

" _Do you have to go?"_

" _Where are you going?"_

" _Can't you stay here?"_

" _Will I ever see you again?"_

" _How could you leave us like this, Kent?"_

" _Kent?"_

"KENT!"

My eyes shot open as I awoke with a gasp. Looking to my left, I saw Liv standing next to my bed, a concerned look on her virtual face. I slowly sat up with a groan, running a hand through my hair and down my face.

"You started having the dreams again?" she asked.

"Yeah. I knew they'd probably come back, but I just…"

"You were hoping not so soon."

My only response was an irritated sigh directed at myself. This had been going on ever since the evening Yang gave me her number, and the dreams had only gotten more and more vivid the last few nights. But they were more than just dreams, they were memories: the faces of those I left behind and the emotions I felt at the time. I tried to bury them by forgoing sleep entirely, as my powers enabled me to function at one hundred percent even without it, and yet I had picked up the habit again shortly after I arrived here.

"I'm becoming too comfortable," I murmured.

"Comfortable enough that you only have one minute until class begins," my AI friend revealed. "Up and at 'em."

When she vanished, I got cleaned up, put on my uniform, and rushed to Oobleck's class. Plopping myself down in the first seat I saw, I checked the clock and found myself with fifty seconds to spare. The last couple of students were hurriedly taking their seats, while Oobleck waited patiently to begin today's lesson. I heard shuffling and soon discovered that I had plopped down right next to Blake, whose was in the process of putting whatever book she was reading away.

"Morning," she greeted warmly upon noticing my arrival. She had softened up a little since I went out of my way to help Velvet.

"Morning," I echoed back with a nod.

"Good morning, class," Oobleck began loudly. "Today we will be continuing our discussion on the aftermath of the Great War. Our first subject: poetry!"

A collective groan resounded throughout the classroom, but Blake and I remained silent. I saw her ears perk up beneath her bow and her eyes focus squarely on the history teacher. Considering she was a lover of literature like myself, I guess she too would have a soft spot for its more rhythmic adaptations.

"Poetry can cover many topics: beauty, romance, love, laughter, hopes, dreams, and the list goes on! The aftermath of the Great War saw a massive boom in the creation of poems related to the conflict. Some describe the heroic and nobles acts of soldiers on the battlefield, others were the writers' way of pouring out their hearts on the sadness they felt over the tremendous loss of life."

He drank a big gulp of coffee and then zoomed to the front of the bottom tier.

"Judging from your reaction to this topic, the very idea of poetry is unappealing to most of you. But you know what they say: 'don't knock it until you try it!' Which is why I would like one of you to step forward and present a poem out loud to the class, one made right off the top of your heads! Who is up to the challenge?"

Everyone began looking apprehensively at every other student besides themselves. I guessed that if the class took too long to decide then Oobleck would just randomly pick one, so I prepared to raise my hand, hoping it would set something of an example.

But the good doctor beat me to it.

"Very well then, if nobody will volunteer, then I will select! Mr. Arc! You have been selected!"

"Wh-What?" Jaune startled. "But Professor Oobleck, sir…"

"It's **Doctor** Oobleck, Mr. Arc," the teacher corrected. "And no buts! Please, hurry and come down!"

"Yeah, Jaune," Cardin mockingly cheered. "Give it a try!"

Jaune audibly gulped, prompting Pyrrha to pat his shoulder encouragingly. They'd been sitting together more often ever since our arrangement was made; it was pleasing to see. The young knight then looked across the room to me, and I gave him a thumbs up, so he reluctantly made his way down to stand before the class.

"Whenever you are ready," Oobleck said, having moved off to the side to give the knight room.

Jaune coughed to try and expel his nervousness, but the struggle was _very_ real for him. He was simply too embarrassed. Every time he opened his mouth, nothing would come out, and with each failed attempt, his body shook with fear with greater intensity as sweat began to pour from his brow. After a long pause, he finally sagged in defeat, and I could see the beginnings of shameful tears in his eyes. Oobleck frowned in disappointment at the sight, while Cardin grinned in arrogant satisfaction.

 _Time for another push._

"Doctor Oobleck," I spoke out as I stood from my seat, the rest of the class now focused on me instead of my friend. "If I may, I know a method that can help Jaune. Poetry notwithstanding, this does coincide with the task you gave me, does it not?"

"Hmm," the spectacled speedster hummed in thought as he sipped from his mug. "It is. Alright then, Mr. Mason, you may proceed."

I walked down the steps, the rest of the class eyeing me curiously. As I made my way towards the front of the room, I stopped for a second to place my hand on Jaune's shoulder and whisper to him.

"I've got your back. Trust me."

He gave a small, but grateful nod and then I went and grabbed one of those reversible chalkboards that you can move around on wheels. I pulled it into position in-between Oobleck's desk and Jaune so the whole class could see it. I then grabbed a piece of chalk and then turned back to address my fellow students.

"Before I begin, I want to make it clear that this lesson is not only for Jaune, but all of you as well. It works in three simple steps. Please pay attention; I promise it _will_ be worth it."

I then began writing on the board, saying each word aloud as I scribbled it down in big letters so everyone could see.

"I… sound… my… barbaric… YAWP… from… the rooftops… of the… world," I finished it with a dash followed by the letters 'WW'. "That is a direct quote from Walt Whitman, or 'Uncle Walt' as I sometimes call him. Back where I was born, he was a very famous poet who died long ago, but the impact of his works has stood the test of time."

"Why would anyone dedicate their life to just reading and writing poetry all the time?" Cardin asked in disdain at the concept. "What's the point?"

"I'm glad you asked, Cardin; we'll get to that in a minute. Now, for those of you who don't know, a 'yawp' is simply a tremendous cry, shout, or yell. This is step one of my poem-making process: Jaune, give me your version of a barbaric yawp."

"Wait… right here?" He briefly looked to his audience with trepidation on his face.

"Yes, go ahead. You can do it."

He gave one last look to his team, who all gave him various gestures of support. "Okay. U-Um… yawp."

Some of the students laughed a little at his poor first attempt, but I kept pushing him on.

"Louder," I pressed, and he swallowed again before giving it another try.

"Yawp."

"C'mon, that's a mouse. Again!"

"Yawp!"

"Oh for cryin' out loud, dude, put your heart and soul into it!"

" **YAWP**!"

"There you go," I patted him on the back. "There's a barbarian in you after all, Jauney-Boy. Now, let's move on to step two."

I ran back over to the chalkboard and flipped it around to the blank side. Reaching into my pocket, I then pulled out a large rolled up poster (which actually came from the omni-tool) and then stuck it to the board with scotch tape I swiped from Oobleck's desk. It was a picture of Walt Whitman himself, black and white with his elderly visage, ivory-colored clothes and bushy beard on display, his eyes looking to his right at something off-camera.

" _That_ is Walt Whitman. Uncle Walt. Now Jaune," I wrapped my arm around his shoulder and pointed to the photo. "I want you to look at that picture and tell me what it reminds you of. Don't think, _answer_!"

"Um," the young knight's eyes narrowed at the photo. "A madman."

"What kind of madman?" I asked as I circled around him. "Don't think about it, just answer again."

"A-A crazy madman."

"C'mon, you're more creative than that. Use your imagination; say the very first thing that comes to your mind even if it's total gibberish. Go for it!"

"Uh… a sweaty-toothed madman."

I stopped. "Goodness gracious, man; there's a poet in you too."

By now, nearly the entirety of the class was fully invested in my presentation. Oobleck hadn't even taken a drink of coffee since I started.

"And now, finally, step three. Close your eyes," I covered Jaune's with one hand and placed my other on his shoulder before I began to spin him around slowly. "Now, tell me what you see."

"I-I close my eyes," he started, his momentum building. "A-And this image floats beside me…"

"A sweaty-toothed madman," I reminded him.

"A sweaty-toothed madman, with a stare that pounds my brain."

"Good job. Now, what's he doing? Give him action!"

"His hands reach out and choke me…"

"Nice, nice," he kept his eyes closed even as I moved the hand covering them to his other shoulder.

"And all the time, he's mumbling…"

"Mumbling what?"

"Truth…"

"Truth? What truth?"

"Truth like… like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold."

A few more students laughed at his answer, making him lose his concentration and open his eyes again.

"Ignore them, ignore them," I insisted, redirecting his attention to me. "Focus on the blanket, Jaune. Tell me about the blanket!"

He closed his eyes and continued. "Y-You… p-push it, stretch it, it'll never be enough. You kick it and beat at it, it'll never cover any of us…"

There was no stopping him now, so I backed away and prostrated myself before him. His team, Blake, and several others were leaning forward in their seats, eyes wide and unblinking, enraptured at what was unfolding before them.

"From the moment we enter crying, to the moment we leave dying, it'll just cover your face as you wail… and cry… and scream."

His poem complete, he slowly peeled his eyes open, not knowing what to expect in terms of reactions from the class, which had now gone silent. Then there was clapping, which started with Pyrrha, a wide, proud smile on her face. Ren and Nora followed, then Team RWBY, then Oobleck, and soon the whole class (sans Cardin) joined in.

I'd never seen Jaune smile so big as I stood up and gently grasped his head. "Don't you _ever_ forget this."

"I won't," he whispered. "Thank you."

"Anytime."

"Well done both of you," Oobleck commended. "That was stupendous."

"Thank you, doctor," I replied. "But I'm not quite done yet."

"Oh?"

"There is an important lesson to be learned from this, but before I give it, I would like the class to come down and gather around."

"Hmm, why not? Hop to it, children!"

"Yeah. C'mon, I won't bite."

Most of the students were visibly confused by this turn of events but nonetheless obeyed. I took a knee again as they closed in, and so did them one after another. Those in the very back of the crowd remained standing so as to get a better look. Ruby and Nora sat the closest to me, their excited faces reminding me of children about to be told a bedtime story, with their respective teams similarly curious. Cardin waited until everyone else had already moved before getting up himself, staying in the back furthest away from me. Once everyone had situated themselves comfortably and I was sure I had their undivided attention, I spoke.

"Why do we read and write poetry? We read and write poetry because we are members of either the human or faunus races, and both humans and faunus are filled with _passion_. Now don't get me wrong; the life of a huntsman or huntress is a noble pursuit, essential to preserving and sustaining life in this world. But beauty, romance, love, laughter, hopes, and dreams? These are the things we stay alive **for**."

I paused for a moment to let that sink in, and that's when I noticed Velvet fiddling with her camera.

"To quote from Uncle Walt again: 'Oh me! Oh life of the questions of these recurring. Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities filled with the foolish. What good amid these, oh me, oh life? Answer: that you. Are. Here. That life exists, and identity. That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on, and _you_. _May contribute. A_ **_verse_**.' What will your verse be, guys?"

By the time I finished, the students were all completely flabbergasted, unable to form words as they stared at me in wonder. Some even had legitimate tears in their eyes; even _Weiss_ was having trouble holding back the waterworks.

CLICK, CLICK, CLICK

I turned toward Velvet just in time to see her lower her camera, and we shared a smile before my classmates and I got back to our feet.

"Thanks for your time, guys. Doctor Oobleck, I turn the class back over to you."

"Actually," he spoke softly, his usual hyperactive demeanor absent. "I believe that's all for today."

Everyone stared at him like he had just grown a second head.

"You're dismissing us _this_ early?" I inquired.

"Mr. Mason, what you did here today will surely go down in Beacon's history. You managed to convey a lesson to your fellow students that otherwise would've taken me days, maybe even weeks, to teach them. The least I could do is reward your efforts with more than just gratitude."

"Oh, well thank-"

"AWESOME," Ruby and Nora cheered as they jumped high into the air and gave each other a high five. "We're free!"

"Only until Miss Goodwitch's class," the good doctor stated. "You are still expected to be there on time for your trip to Forever Fall. But until then, enjoy your break."

With that, everyone returned to their seats so they could grab their belongings and leave. Most of them took a moment to say 'thank you' as they were walking out, but Ruby tackle-hugged me and squeezed tightly. The red reaper then blabbered something about using her free time to test her weapon's newest ammo before darting away.

"Dangit Ruby," Yang called after her. "Sorry, I gotta make sure she doesn't blow anything up like last time. See ya at the field trip!"

"Peace out."

As she left, Weiss followed suit, declaring that she would get some more study time in. But Blake lingered for a moment longer, looking like she wanted to say something. At Yang's call, however, she decided to simply drop it for now and leave with her team. Jaune's team all gave him pats on the back on a job well done, making me smile. I then noticed Cardin leaving, at last, followed closely behind by Russel and Sky.

 _Wait, where was Dove?_

I hadn't noticed it yet because of how quickly things happened after class started, but Team CRDL was one member short today. Curious, I scanned the school grounds and found him lying on a bed in the nurse's office completely wrapped in bandages from head to toe. Closer inspection revealed his injuries: multiple scratches and bite marks coupled welts the size of golf balls all over his body, hence the extensive wrappings. The trauma was consistent with what I read in a book about various Grimm types, one in particular.

Rapier Wasps.

The realization made me scowl. Cardin was still going through with his revenge plot, even without Jaune under his thumb. No points for guessing who his target was.

 _Cardin, you'd put your own teammates in danger just to get back at me?_

This couldn't go on. Oobleck's little break would provide plenty of time to go over what Liv discovered about Cardin's background. Maybe there was something there I could use to get through to him without resorting to more extreme measures. If I played my cards right, hopefully, Nora wouldn't have to break his legs.

"My offer still stands, by the way," came a bubbly voice from next to me.

"Gah," I jumped. "Nora?"

"That's me."

"I thought you left with your team."

"I did," she smiled.

"… So you came back just to tell me that?"

"Uh huh, and I have! So, bye!"

She skipped her way out of the classroom and vanished. I stared at the exit for a moment before bursting out into laughter.

 _Every universe needs someone like Nora._

But I had to stay focused. However, the upcoming field trip went, one thing was for sure: this… contention between myself and Cardin would end today.

One way or another.

(X)

 **A.N** :

One more part to go and this arc will be all wrapped up.

In case you are unaware, the poetry scene was adapted from the "yawp" scene in Dead Poet's Society, starring Robin Williams. I cannot put into words how badly I've wanted to adapt my favorite moment from that film into one of my stories. Now just seemed like a good time to do it. Oh, and no copyright infringement intended.

Well, what did you think? Please leave a comment/review; your criticisms help me improve as a writer.

Thanks and see ya later.


	12. The More We Hate Ourselves

When you've been around as long as I have, you learn to appreciate the beauty in simple things.

Take my surroundings, for example; nothing but miles upon miles of beautiful trees in all directions, their silky smooth scarlet leaves creating an ocean of red as far as the eye can see. On several occasions, the wind would pick up and blow a large chunk off the top of the canopy, and then carry the leaves away in its current. It was both dazzling and relaxing to behold, like the elegant strokes of a paintbrush swirling across the blue canvas of the sky.

From what I'd seen so far of Remnant, Forever Fall took the cake in sheer environmental wonder. No offense to the Emerald Forest.

After Glynda brought us all out here, everybody split up into groups of two or three to accomplish our assignment. Apparently, apart from being a naturally sweet breakfast topping, the thick sap from Forever Fall's trees could also be used as a good base for a new type of explosive Professor Peach was developing. Some sort of Molotov cocktail-like dust bomb, from what I'd gathered. Students were to gather one bottle to bring back to her, plus another to keep for themselves as a 'thank you'.

I decided to pick a tree far away from the rest of the class, a quiet little spot. I was almost finished filling up my last jar when I heard footsteps approaching behind. A quick check of their vitals and I knew who it was without even looking.

"How's it going, Blake?"

The footsteps stopped. "It's… fine. The forest looks very… red today."

"As it should," I chuckled as I screwed the lid on the container and stood up. "Did you and your team get your jars?"

"Yeah, we're finished. The others should be done soon, too."

"Nice. Just make sure to let Miss Goodwitch know so we can get out of here before any potential Grimm show up, okay?"

"I will. But before I do, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," I said as I turned to face her. "What's up?"

"Do you," she paused and began rubbing her arm nervously. "Do you believe that humans and faunus can coexist peacefully and as equals?"

"Hmm, that's a big question. May I ask what brought this on?"

"You just… you seem like a nice guy who doesn't care about the differences between the two races. You treat everyone the same, and I really appreciate that. I was just… curious, I guess."

"Thanks for telling me that," I smiled. "And yes, I _do_ believe that humans and faunus will become equals one day. It _will_ happen, sooner or later."

"How can you be so sure?" She asked

"It's already begun; you just have to know where to look," I stated. "Take Team CFVY, for instance, or you and me. We have common ground in our shared love for literature, right?"

A small smirk appeared on her face as she shrugged.

"I guess so," but then her eyes widened in realization. "Wait, what do you mean by 'you and me'?"

"I know, Blake," I said as I pointed to the top of my head. "I know that your bow isn't just a fashion statement."

"SHHHH," her breathing quickened and she looked around this way and that nervously. "The others…"

"Are nowhere close enough to hear us talking," I spoke softly, leaning back against the tree and crossing my arms. "Your secret is safe. Trust me."

She managed to calm down somewhat after that but kept her eyes and ears open nonetheless.

"How'd you figure it out?" She demanded in a hushed tone, her eyes narrow.

"Very easily," I started, electing to give her the "logical" explanation. "For one, you never, _ever_ take that thing off, even outside of class. Plus I've noticed the subtle twitches it makes when your ears move underneath. You are always acutely aware of your surroundings, even when you're just sitting still while reading a book. You're able to correctly guess what's for breakfast just by smelling it all the way from the dorms. Oh, and don't get me started on how happy you get whenever the cafeteria serves fish…"

"Okay, okay," she conceded, sighing in irritation. "Just… don't go shouting it from the top of Beacon Tower, alright?"

"I won't, but in all seriousness Blake, why hide who you are like that?"

"You may be willing to accept the faunus, Kent, but your _species_ is not," she declared.

"The actions of the few should not determine the way you feel about an entire group or species," I retorted.

"… Regardless, until the issue is resolved, I want to avoid any unnecessary attention. I want people to see me for _who_ I am, not _what_ I am."

"So who and what are you, then?"

That caught her off-guard. "I… I don't understand what you're asking."

"Then let me be specific," I pushed myself off the tree and stepped towards her. "Are you someone who's so afraid to let others see her true self that she'd rather keep it concealed beneath a piece of cloth, or are you someone willing to take a stand for her heritage and beliefs no matter what negativity comes her way?"

Her silence was her answer.

"Know this, Blake," I whispered as I leaned in closer to her face. "It's better to be honest and despised, than _dishonest_ and _loved_."

I pat her on her shoulder and then walked off, leaving her to contemplate my words so I could do some contemplation of my own. Even when it was necessary, lying by omission always sucked, which is why I made sure to be as honest as I could with my friends when it came to what I _did_ share with them. Hypocritical or not, I still had a cover to maintain, at least for a little while longer.

I was halfway back to the main group when I noticed Yang trying to free Ruby from a block of ice she was encased in by punching it. I tilted my head at the display, but that was when a certain bunny girl noticed me approaching and waved. During the break between classes, Velvet had confessed to me that my words during Oobleck's class struck a chord with her desire to preserve the "good times" through photography, so she asked to come along on the field trip to hone her craft.

"Hey Velvet, how goes the photo op?"

"Great," she beamed as she held her camera out to me. "Care to take a look at what I got so far?"

I took the device from her and began scrolling through the selection on the little screen. The first few were simple wide shots of multiple students going about their business, but after that is when it got interesting. There was a shot of Nora chugging a jar full of sap like her life depended on it, then Ruby trying to sneak up on Weiss and scare her in another pic, only for the one after to show her frozen solid with the heiress looking pretty smug about it.

 _Well, that explains that._

But the next four were my favorites: 1) Pyrrha handing Jaune a jar, 2) Jaune bending down next to a tree to draw sap unaware of Pyrrha checking out his butt, 3) her horrifying realization that Velvet was watching all along, and finally 4) her burying her cherry-red face in her hands as Jaune holds the now full jar out for her to take, a look of confusion on his face.

"These are pretty good," I commended.

"Thank you," she nodded gratefully, but then looked worried when I kept cycling through the photos. "Wait, what're you doing?"

"Just seeing what else you've got."

"B-but I…"

I soon discovered why she was so hesitant. For every two pictures of another student and/or their unique weapon, there was one featuring the leader of Team CFVY in some capacity. There was a shot of her making a face whilst wearing a pair of tacky shades, another of her having fallen asleep on her textbook in the middle of studying, and a selfie of her and Velvet with the latter using two fingers to give her leader bunny ears of her own.

And the funny thing was, all the ones I just listed were dated _last week_.

I looked at Velvet with a knowing smirk. "So, why so many pictures of weapons and battle poses?"

She coughed, perfectly willing to change the subject. "W-well, my semblance is mimicking the fighting styles of others, and my camera allows me to create copies of their weapons. Coco calls it a 'match made in huntress heaven'."

"Like you and her would be?"

"Yeah-waitNO!"

"Hah, gotcha."

She swiped the camera from my grip as I laughed. "Don't play games like that!"

"I make no promises."

"Kent…" she stomped her foot while giving an admittedly adorable pout.

"Okay okay, I'm just messing around," I conceded, and the rabbit faunus went back to fiddling with her gadget. "Does she know?"

She paused with her tinkering, eyes going wide. "Kn-Know what?"

"Velvet," my voice was quieter, but also sterner. "Does. She. Know?"

After a moment, she let out a long exhale as her ears drooped slightly. "No."

"Why haven't you told her?" She shied away even more, her body going stiff. "I'm just saying I noticed your reaction to simply being held by her that day in the hallway. Your attraction to her was kinda obvious, so I figured…"

"I can't."

"Huh, why not?" By now her bunny ears had almost completely bent over to cover her face. "Oh, I get it."

She didn't want to ruin what they already have, and they did seem _very_ close. Classic.

She nodded silently, lowering her head even further until I could no longer see her eyes. Now, I may not be the best person to give relationship advice for obvious reasons, but that doesn't mean I didn't know a thing or two that could encourage her. So I patted her on her head right in-between her animal ears, and I the reaction I intended as she lifted her gaze back to me.

"When you _are_ ready to tell her, I'll be there if you need me."

Her lips quirked upward a little at that. "Okay."

"Mr. Mason," I heard Glynda call out as she came walking over.

"Yes, Miss Goodwitch?"

"Your fellow students are finished with the assignment, but Team CRDL is unaccounted for. Have you come across them?"

My senses expanded their range on reflex, going further out away from the group until I found the three I was looking for. Apart from their different heartbeats and electrical impulses firing off in their brains, however, I could also detect the sounds of a _fourth_ entity, one made up of buzzing wings, clinking pincers, and stingers trying to stab their way out of a thick cardboard box. How they hadn't broken out already was anyone's guess.

"I know where they are," I answered. "Have everyone else pack up and get ready to leave; I'll go get them myself."

"Alone?" Velvet asked.

"Don't worry about it. I can handle them if things get ugly, but hopefully, it won't come to that if I can help it."

"Well… good luck, then, I guess."

Velvet then walked away, but Glynda remained a moment longer.

"And if it does get ugly?" she inquired, clearly concerned over what could happen.

"Hey," I smiled. "It's me."

She rolled her eyes before turning away, and that's when I chose to start making my way towards Cardin and company. They were in a small clearing not too far from the group, just passed a thick cluster of trees so they could not be seen or heard by the others. They had no idea I was there listening in as Cardin relayed his plan to his two teammates, the box of rapier wasps sitting on the ground behind him.

"Okay, when everyone gets ready to leave, you, Russel, will run back to the group and tell Kent that Sky was jumped by a Grimm and got hurt…"

 _Oh, so it's one of those kinds of traps._

" _He's very determined, I'll give him that,"_ Liv acknowledged.

 _Too determined._

"You'll lure him over here, and when he gets close enough, I'll give the signal…"

The wind picked up again, the perfect cover.

"You two will run away…"

WHOOSH

I snatched the box without him noticing, set it ablaze with my heat vision, and then threw it off the nearest cliff before returning to my original spot.

"And I'll throw the box at him," the bully finished.

"What box?" I yelled as I stepped into the clearing, startling them all.

"Kent?" Cardin was shocked by my sudden arrival, but even more so when he noticed that the cardboard container was missing. "What the… where did it go?"

"You lost something? Well, I'm sorry, but we don't have time to look for it," I turned around and gestured for them to follow me as I began walking away. "We're all heading back to Beacon now, so let's go."

Cardin looked to both of his teammates, then back to the ground where the box used to be, his eyes screwing shut. "… No."

I stopped. "No?"

"We're not going anywhere," He pointed his weapon at me and bared his teeth. "Not until you and I settle this!"

"Settle what?" I slowly spun to face him again. "You're not still mad about what happened in the cafeteria, are you?"

"Yes!"

"Dude, I told you that I was done. I don't want us to be enemies."

"Then you should've minded your own business that day!"

"You were tormenting a fellow student one year your senior, and when I stopped you, you called one of my friends a bimbo just to tick me off, and then tried to attack me while my back was turned," I threw my arms out in exasperation. "But even _then_ I was willing to let it go. I _still_ am. Why can't you?"

Cardin didn't respond immediately, instead looking to the ground and he racked his brain for an answer. Sky and Russel were also starting to look a little hesitant if only slightly, which meant I was on the right track.

"Cardin, let's be real here," I sighed. "Even if you did get your revenge, what would it matter? Remnant would just keep on turning like nothing happened, and you'd only be making things worse for yourself. My friends would be mad at you, the teachers would all be disappointed in you, and you'd probably go down as one of the worst huntsmen of this generation. Is that really what you want?"

"You don't know shit about what I want!" He thundered, scaring his two companions into edging away from him.

"Actually, I do," I walked a few paces forward. "You don't really want revenge against me, you're just lashing out because you can't get over your father's murder."

All three of them stared at me, mouths agape. Cardin was so flabbergasted that he had to lower his arm until the business end of his mace rested on the ground.

"H-How do you know about that?"

"I did some digging," I divulged. "Your father, Wallace Winchester, was both a huntsman and an unsung hero of the Faunus Rights Revolution who fought in _support_ of the faunus."

"What?" Sky and Russel blurted out in disbelief, but Cardin was still too stunned to respond.

"It's true," I began pacing back and forth in front of them. "His convictions were unshakable, even when most of his colleagues shunned him as a traitor. He later took part in the Battle at Fort Castle and became paralyzed from the waist down after defeating another huntsman under General Lagune's employ."

"What does that have to do with-"

"I'm getting there, Sky," I silenced him with a glare. "Anywho, Wallace returned home after that and married the love of his life. They then moved to Vale where they had a child named Cardin who wanted to be a hero just like his dad. But with his dad's handicap, he had to find someone else to give him proper combat training when he reached his teens. Eventually, he found an instructor in their next-door-neighbor, a retired huntsman named Dante."

"Stop it," Cardin grumbled.

"Over the next year, Dante taught Cardin how to fight, and even became close friends with the Winchesters in the process. He invited them to barbecues, played poker with Wallace himself, and even agreed to help him plan Cardin's surprise 15th birthday party."

"Stop," The bully growled, his fists clenching and shaking.

"But when Cardin's mom picked him up from school that day, they came home to find different sort of surprise…"

"Shut up."

"Wallace and Dante, both dead, the latter with a knife jabbed into his throat, and the former with a bullet wound in his head."

"SHUT UP!" Cardin roared, scaring some birds away from their perches in the nearby trees as tears welled in his eyes. "WHY DO YOU CARE?! WHY ARE YOU EVEN BRINGING THIS UP?!"

"Because it wasn't your fault, Cardin."

His rage evaporated in an instant after that, leaving only confusion, like he had never even considered such a possibility. Sky and Russel observed with the utmost attention, wondering where this was going to go.

"Dante used you. He'd wanted your father dead ever since he sided with the faunus during the Revolution, and his hatred for him only grew after their duel at Fort Castle. He spent years plotting his revenge, even going as far as to get plastic surgery done in Atlas to hide his true identity before tracking his old enemy down."

"I-I trusted him," Cardin choked out. "I… I thought he was a good guy."

"I know, and he was counting on that," I stopped pacing and took another step towards him. "He took advantage of you to get close to your family, to learn all your secrets and earn your trust as he waited for the right moment to strike."

"I-I gave him that chance. I told him everything he needed to know! My father's dead because of me, dammit!"

"That's not true," I moved closer until we were only a foot apart. "Dante was an arrogant, racist sociopath who didn't know when to let go of a grudge. **He's** to blame for betraying your trust and using you like that. Dante killed your father, Cardin; you mustn't feel guilty over someone else's sin."

I watched as the towering teen dropped his weapon before collapsing to his knees. Sky and Russel took a step back as I knelt in front of their leader and waited for him to calm down a bit.

"You're not really mad at me, you're mad at yourself and taking it out on everyone around you," I declared, causing him to look back up to me. "That's why your mother enrolled you in Beacon; it was her last chance to set you straight because nothing else worked. Now, I'm giving you _another_ chance to if you're willing to take it."

"What do you want me to do?" He sniffed. "Forgive Dante for what he did?"

"No," I gently laid my hand on his shoulder. "I'm asking you to forgive _yourself_ for letting it change you. You can still be a great man like your father was, but you've got to stop blaming yourself for what happened to him. Would he want you to keep going down this path of self-destruction?"

"… No."

And then the floodgates opened, reducing him to a sobbing wreck whose cries filled the clearing and echoed through the trees. Sky and Russel were unsure of how to respond to this, but after I gave them a little gesture, they settled for patting their leader on his back as he relieved himself of all his guilt, rage, shame, and regret over his past actions. After a minute or two, he got his breathing under control and wiped his face on his forearm.

"So, what happens now?"

"Now," I smiled as I helped him to his feet. "We deal with that Ursa."

"What Ursa?"

ROAR

The four of us turned to look just in time as the aforementioned Grimm came barreling out into the clearing, stopping a dozen or so feet away from us to snarl at its prey.

"It was drawn here by you, Cardin."

"Great," he deadpanned.

"W-What do we do?" Russel shivered as he and Sky drew their weapons.

Narrowing his eyes, Cardin reached down and picked up his mace up off the ground, gripping it tightly. "We take it down."

"You guys got this," I stated.

"Yeah, we do," came a familiar voice from behind me, and I turned to see Jaune approaching us, sword and shield already drawn. Further back I could see all of the other students by the tree line, watching us.

"You," Cardin was stunned at his old adversary's arrival and willingness to aid his team. "Why would you help us?"

"Well, you guys are short one member," the knight shrugged. "So I figured you could use some help. That's what huntsmen do, right?"

The former bully gave an appreciative nod before refocusing on the monster. As Team CRL plus One took their battle stances, I sped over to the other students and stopped in-between Yang and Pyrrha to watch events unfold. A second later, they all charged the ursa at once, prompting Velvet to start taking more pictures with gusto. In the middle of all the hacking and slashing, I felt Yang tap my hand to get my attention.

"You guys saw all of that, huh?"

"Yep, and now I see why Ruby calls you 'Superman'," she grinned before pointing to the former bully. "You'd _have_ to be one to get through to him."

"Thanks."

"Mmmhmm. But I'm still gonna call you 'Boy Scout', though."

"I thought so."

I switched back to watching the battle. Sky and Russel each took a swipe at the ursa's back legs, causing it to stumble. It roared again before raising one of its front legs and bringing it down upon Jaune, who blocked it with his shield. As the knight pushed back against the clawed appendage bearing down on him, I noticed Pyrrha raising her arm whilst the faint flicker of her semblance manifested around it. I gently grabbed her wrist and stopped her, shaking my head when she turned towards me.

"Watch," I said.

The ursa managed to push Jaune down onto one knee, and that was when Cardin came in from the side and brought his hammer down on the creature's leg, breaking it. It roared in agony and collapsed onto its side, leaving it wide open for Cardin and Jaune's next move. The knight kept his shield raised so the former bully could jump onto and then launch himself off of it. Raising his mace above his head mid-jump, he then brought it crashing down atop the ursa's head, cracking its skull-plated face with a thunderous impact. He then swung his weapon up like a golf club, knocking the monster flat on its back, leaving it wide open for the four huntsmen in training to swarm it. The beast was completely helpless as it was repeatedly stabbed and bludgeoned over and over again until it finally succumbed to its wounds and dissolved into nothingness.

Pyrrha looked a little embarrassed for doubting her partner, even for a moment, so I gave her a comforting nudge with my elbow and she snapped out of it. Ruby then came up next to her and began asking about her semblance, but my attention was still on Jaune and Cardin.

"Hey, Yang?"

"'Sup?"

"Do you think it'd be alright if I added another guest for tonight?"

"I think so. Who'd you have in mind?"

"You'll see," I then cupped my hands and shouted out across the clearing. "Yo, Cardin!"

"What?" he called back.

"Do you like pancakes?!"

My fellow students looked at me like I was nuts. Cardin, however, just scratched the back of his head in thought, pondering my question.

"… Yeah, why?"

(X)

 **Later…**

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

I smirked as I kept walking down the halls of the dormitory, Cardin following right behind me. While the rest of the student body ate in either the cafeteria or downtown, my friends and I had planned a little get-together instead. Pancake Night in JNPR's dorm, with Ren volunteering as the cook.

"Yes," I answered as I stopped in front of JNPR's door. "Consider this the first step in your journey to redemption."

He looked to the door, fully aware of who was on the other side, and took a deep breath. "Okay."

"How's Dove doing?"

"Oh yeah. I checked up on him and apologized, and he was cool with it," he sighed. "Man, I've got a lot of people to say sorry to like that Velvet girl, and especially my mom."

"It's gonna be tough, dude," I slapped him on his shoulder encouragingly. "But as long as you stay committed to making things right, it'll all work out. You'll see."

"I hope so. And look, I don't know how you figured out all that stuff about me and my dad, but… thanks."

"No problem, man," I gestured to the door with my free hand, the other balancing a lid-covered tray I brought with me. "Shall we?"

He nodded before raising his hand and knocking on the entrance three times. A voice from inside told us to come in, and when I opened the door I was greeted by the sight of my two favorite teams spread out in different parts of the room.

"Fashionably late, I see," Weiss chided as she elegantly ran a brush through Pyrrha's hair.

"Now Pancake Night can begin," Ruby announced gleefully.

"And Nora can stop drinking all our syrup," Yang pointed out.

"Hey!"

"You know what you did!"

"Will Velvet be joining us?" Ren asked as he fastened his pink "Please Do Nothing To The Cook" apron around his torso.

"I'm afraid not," I explained. "She had to process all the pictures she took today."

"Hmm, shame."

I stepped through the threshold, and that's when Cardin entered the room as well. Everyone went silent. Despite my willingness to befriend him, most of the others were a little… resistant to allow the former school bully into their circle so soon after his decision to change his ways. It took a little convincing, but I managed to persuade them to give him a chance, at least for tonight.

Cardin stood there awkwardly, not knowing how to react or even greet anyone present. Thankfully, though, Ruby broke the ice by asking Cardin to come sit by her so she could share her ideas on how to improve his "macing", which involved a _lot_ of weapon modifications.

Ren gave Jaune a skeptical look, but the knight simply smiled and nodded, prompting the tranquil ninja to smirk at the former bully.

"Cardin, what do you like in your pancakes?"

"Oh, um…" he flustered. "Pecans?"

"Coming right up."

As Ren walked over to where an electric skillet and several ingredients sat atop a nearby desk, Blake eyed the tray I was carrying curiously.

"What's that?"

"Oh, this…" I held the tray out in front of me before removing the lid in a _very_ dramatic fashion, revealing the sizzling contents underneath. "Is just four pounds of BACON!"

"Woohoo!" Yang cheered.

"You didn't have to do that, Kent," Pyrrha spoke up from her chair.

"I know, but I did anyway, so now you've all got to eat it."

Jaune then tried to get up from his seat, only to wince and sit back down. "I think I pulled something fighting that Grimm."

"Here ya go."

SMACK

"Agh," Jaune cried out as he was knocked flat on his back. He then reached up and pulled the piece of cooked meat from off his face. "Why?"

"Because bacon makes _everything_ better."

"Duh," Yang and I said together, and we both laughed.

Jaune looked at the bacon strip he held in his hand, then shrugged and bit a huge chunk off of it, moaning in delight. "Not bad."

"Ooh, do me! Do me," Nora cried, one hand raised as she bounced on her bed.

SMACK

"Yummy," Blake rolled her eyes. "Face Bacon."

" _Of which I will never partake,"_ Liv lamented, sniffing. _"It's not fair, I tells ya!"_

 _Oh c'mon, you know life_ _ **is**_ _fair…_

" _Because it's equally unfair to everybody. Yeah, yeah, just shut up and eat your nonessential pleasure food. I'm gonna go sift through the Schnee Dust Company's unmentionables. Auf Wiedersehen!"_

After she disappeared into the CCT Network again, I took notice of Ren distributing plates of pancakes to everyone (man, he cooks fast), with Yang being the last. She looked over at me with half-lidded eyes and patted the empty space right next to her, inviting me to sit there.

 _Leaving is going to be harder than I thought,_ I swallowed apprehensively before reaching back and closing the door.

(X)

 **A.N** :

There we go. Thanks for waiting. What did you think of the backstory I gave Cardin? Let me know.

Okay, so yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get this done by the end of this year like I planned. Life works like that. However, I've also gotten numerous requests to pick back up my other fic, Convergence: Showtime, and I do miss it. So here's what I was thinking; doing a bi-seasonal thing between this fic and Convergence. For summer I'll work on a couple chapters for that, then in fall, I'll do a couple more for this one, then back to Convergence in the winter and so on and so forth.

Or I might just work on however many chapters for each I feel like writing at a time. I don't know.

Please leave a comment/review. Your critiques help me improve as a writer.

Thanks and I'll catch ya later!


	13. The Old Fashioned Way

"HELP ME!"

The distant scream startled me awake, and right away I could tell that something was wrong.

"Liv, what's going on?"

No reply, so I sat up and checked my wrist, only to find the omni-tool absent. Looking around frantically, I spotted the remains of it on my nightstand. It was nothing more than a pile of gray dust now, the radiant light found even in its smallest particles having faded away already.

"Liv, reform."

Nothing happened.

"Liv, reform!" Same result, so I scooped up the pile and held it in the palms of my hands. "Liv, answer me!"

The window then blew open, letting in a gust of hot air that scattered the dust to the wind. I had little time to process the loss of my friend as I looked outside and beheld the devastation. Everything from Beacon to Vale and beyond was _burning_ , the smoke and ash rising to obstruct the night sky and blanket the whole kingdom in suffocating shadow. But then I looked down at and gasped at what I saw.

Dead bodies filled the entire courtyard, all of them Beacon students and teachers. I saw the mangled remains of Team CRDN first, followed by the decapitated body of Port lying on a bench, Oobleck with his legs blown off, and furthest back were the corpses of Glynda and Ozpin (the latter with his cane shoved through his stomach) laying atop the steps beneath the toppled CCT. I had to squint my eyes to see that far; for whatever reason, my vision powers had failed to activate.

"KENT!"

"Yang?"

Her voice sounded like it was coming from right outside my door, so I ran towards it, barely noticing how slow I was moving. Not wanting to waste time, I tried shoulder-checking the door open, but while the wood bent, it did not break. Even without my powers, I should've been able to break down the door no problem. Something was clearly not right, but I bit my tongue and grabbed the door handle instead. Throwing the door open, I wasn't greeted by the sight of my gorgeous blonde friend, but rather a certain friend of mine lying motionless against the opposite wall.

I recoiled at the sight. "Velvet?"

I knelt down in front of her and put two fingers to her neck, finding no pulse. Pulling back, I quickly found the cause of death. The strap of her camera was wrapped around her neck so tight that it broke the skin, the blood not yet fully dry. Looking down the wrecked hallway, I discovered the bodies of the rest of her team strewn about in various states of amputation and gore. My breathing became ragged, but then I heard Yang's voice again, and so began my chase, absent of my super speed. Every single time I thought I was getting closer to the source, I would instead come across more dead bodies of students that I knew, like something or someone was playing a sick game with me. The longer this dragged on, the more my mind became clouded with thoughts of anger, sadness, and frustration, but I pressed forward.

After many torturous attempts to catch up to Yang, I ended up at the entrance to the auditorium, where the deceased forms of Team JNPR were on display. Poor Jaune's neck had been snapped, his sword used to stab Pyrrha right in her heart. Ren's throat had been slit, but Nora had it the worst as her head had been smashed to paste by her own hammer.

"What kind of sick…"

"KENT, HELP!"

Snapping back to the situation at hand, I threw the doors open at practically ran inside. I skid to a halt as my brain registered the horrifying sight before me. On one side of the room was Blake, one of her blades jammed into her skull right between her cat ears. On the other side, Weiss lay in a puddle of her own blood that still seeped out from where Myrtenaster had been jammed into her jugular. And kneeling upon the stage was Yang, beaten, bloodied, and weeping as she cradled her dead sister in her arms.

I swallowed a lump in my throat as I approached them. "Yang?"

She lifted her head and glared at me with red eyes. "Where were you?"

"I-I was here the whole-"

"LIAR!" She thundered.

Before I could create any sort of response, two columns of red light suddenly blasted down through the roof and engulfed them. Her screams were instantly drowned out by the roar of energy, and my clothes nearly caught fire from the searing heat. It happened so fast, and when it was over, all that remained of Yang and Ruby was a pool of molten slag.

"NO!" I cried out.

Enraged, I looked up through the new hole in the roof just in time for something to come crashing down and knock me onto my back. I felt a pair of strong hands wrap around my neck and begin choking me. I tried pulling them off to no avail, my powerless form unable to free myself. When my vision refocused, I looked up and saw the face of my attacker, and froze.

His face… was **my** face. And that costume…no, it couldn't be!

"I… killed you," I forced out, struggling to speak as my windpipe was slowly crushed. "How...?"

"Isn't it obvious, bro?" he answered mockingly, grinning as he leaned in closer to whisper in my ear. " **I won**."

Snarling, I swung my fist at his head, only for him to deflect it and then bring his own down to punch a hole right through my chest. I released a bloodcurdling scream, and that just made him laugh _uproariously_.

(X)

"NOOO!"

The whole room shook at the intensity of my shout for the briefest of seconds, and that's when I realized where I was. Sighing in relief, I threw the covers off me and draped my legs over the side of the bed. I buried my face in my hands in an attempt to clear my mind, and then omni-tool chimed, Liv's life-size form sitting right beside me.

"Kent, look at me," Liv ordered sternly, but with an edge of compassion.

I complied, and once she saw my face, her image then became brighter. It was a shift in the particles that transformed her from a mere projection into an actual construct that could interact with the world around her. She did just that by tenderly wiping the tears from my eyes before wrapping her arm around my shoulder and pulling me close.

"He's not here," she soothed. "He's gone; we made sure of that."

"I know," I said as I stood up and began pacing in front of the bed. "It's just… it's never been this intense before."

"Considering it's been three decades since you last experienced it, I can imagine the shock."

"Yeah, but this was different," I placed my hand over my chest, the phantom sensation of the wound I suffered in the dream lingering for a few seconds more before dissipating. "I knew it wasn't real, and yet I thought it was."

"You're growing attached again," Liv cut right to the chase. "But more so than usual."

"Why is that?" I nearly shouted, my frustration boiling over for a split second before I realized it and reigned myself in. "Sorry, I just… I need to take my mind off of this for now. Calm down for a little bit."

"How so?" She asked with a knowing grin.

I turned towards the window. "The old fashioned way."

"It's still too early to let yourself be seen in Vale," she reminded me.

"Which is why I'll be heading out of town tonight," I responded. " _Way_ out of town."

I approached the window and threw the curtains open, gazing out into the night. It was clear and beautiful, and the kingdom was still in one piece, a far cry from what I had just experienced in my dream. But nightwatching would have to wait. Just like when I first arrived here, I closed my eyes and focused my hearing. I picked up the sounds of my fellow students sleeping peacefully, smiling when I singled out Yang snoring away blissfully in her bunk. Then I expanded my range to encompass all of Vale, and in doing so I picked up something.

Cinder's vital signs.

She was asleep, resting calmly in her belief that her plan was going to succeed. Already convinced that she would destroy Beacon Academy and walk away with both her prize and a big smile on her face. It would be so, _so_ easy to just go to her right now and eliminate her. I could do the deed and return in less than a tenth of a tenth of a second, but for some reason, I chose not to, opting instead to clench my fist and quell my impulsiveness.

 _Soon Cinder, but not today._

Getting back on task, I dialed up my hearing all the way to eleven until it reached as far as the continent of Anima. Ignoring the sounds of the weather, various fauna, and Grimm, my attention was drawn to one sight of commotion.

"There," I opened my eyes. "A village; it's under attack by bandits from the sound of things."

"Where?" Liv asked.

"About three hundred miles southwest of Mistral."

"That whole region is a dead zone; they can't call anyone for help."

"Then let's go."

And with that, I threw the window open and took to the air, sailing across the skies at hypersonic speeds towards my destination. I was nearing the coast when I decided to suit up. Energy from the omni-tool swirled around my being, engulfing everything but my head and hands. When it dissipated, I was back in uniform. I had gone through several iterations of my costume throughout the years, but I always came back to this one sooner or later.

Say what you will, but _nothing_ could beat the classic look. The cape, boots, emblem, and the trunks all together formed an image that had become synonymous with the word "superhero." Even the small addition of cuffed wrists had meaning behind them; no matter how much Superman would change, be it his costume or character, at his core, he would always be the same hero we all know and love.

"We're almost there," Liv spoke up from the bracelet. "And I'm detecting enormous deposits of electric and magnetic dust in the nearby mountains."

"That explains the dead zone," I concluded.

A couple of seconds later we arrived. I hovered a few hundred feet above the moderately-sized village and surveyed the damage. Pretty much every single building was wrecked and burning, and bodies littered the streets. Men, women, and children, the ones that actually managed to get out of their homes, anyway. I quickly found the survivors, all fourteen of them, mostly adults. They had taken shelter in the one building that was still standing, a small shack near the edge of town. They were all huddled together and shaking in terror, the little ones sobbing as they desperately cried out for help.

"Kent, we've got Grimm," Liv informed me. "Coming down from the mountains. Fifteen minutes out."

"We'll deal with them after we handle these guys."

The bandits had all gathered outside of the shack, three dozen strong with torches in hand. All of them were either grinning or laughing expectantly as they prepared to set fire to the shelter. One of them stood out, a young woman with short brown hair, icy blue eyes, and an air of superiority around her. The leader, from the looks of it.

The woman put her hands on her hips and scowled at her comrades. "Well, what're you all waiting for? Burn it down!"

There were nods all around as the torchbearers reared their arms back, ready to toss them at the shack and burn the remaining villagers alive.

 _Not on my watch._

I descended to just above the rooftops and then released a gale force blast of super breath that encompassed the whole village. Every single fire was extinguished, both in the buildings as well as the torches the bandits carried, all in nearly the blink of an eye. As they began asking each other what just happened whilst shouting obscenities, I decided to make my presence known. I dropped down right in-between the survivors and their assailants, performing a flawless superhero landing that startled them all.

With eyes aflame, I stared down the marauders as I rose to my full height. "Back off."

A few of them took a step back, but their leader just put her hands on her hips and scowled at me. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"Someone who _really_ doesn't like repeating himself," I answered back. "This is your one chance; leave this village and never return, or suffer the consequences."

A moment passed before laughter broke out from one of the bandits, some guy with a light brown mullet and a five o'clock shadow. The dimwit walked right up to me with the biggest you-know-what eating grin I'd seen in a long while.

"Get a load of this guy. What kind of idiot goes around wearing his underwear on the outside, am I right?"

A round of cackles went about them, while their leader merely smirked. Once it died down, the guy turned back to me and wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"Look here, asshole; we don't want to waste our time dealing with you," he punctuated his statement by shoving me in the shoulder. "So, since you're obviously in the wrong place at the wrong time, this is _your_ one chance; walk away right now and forget you ever saw us, or stay and end up six feet under like everyone else who gets in our way. You hear me?"

"Oh, I hear you," I nodded back. "Do you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Good, then listen closely; if you touch me with that hand again, you _won't_ get it back."

He seemed genuinely shocked that I would even say that, but then his smugness reared its ugly head again as he chuckled darkly.

"Buddy," he said as he raised his hand to try and shove me again. "You have no idea who you're-"

SHUCK

THUMP

He stopped, and then looked down at his hand, or rather, where it should be, finding only a stump from which his blood was spurting out of. He then saw his missing appendage lying in the dirt at his feet, the fingers twitching sporadically. The other bandits watched on in complete silence and disbelief, remaining still as they processed what they just witnessed.

"My hand," he murmured, and then the reality of the situation finally hit him. "MY HAND!"

"It's not yours anymore," I declared, watching as he fell on his back and clutched his wound close to his chest.

"What're you guys waiting for?" he cried out. "Kiss him!"

"… Excuse me?" The leader questioned.

"He's in shock," I explained, before ordering the omni-tool to put a protective barrier around the shack. "He meant to say 'kill him'."

"Fine," she scoffed. "Waste him!"

All of them, save for the leader herself and her recently amputated friend, proceeded to point their crudely-made handguns and rifles at me. Then they pulled the trigger and unleashed a hailstorm of bullets in my direction, expecting my body to be transformed into swiss cheese in an instant. So you can imagine their surprise when each and every projectile bounced harmlessly off me, a few even ricocheting back to their senders who recoiled in pain upon impact. Fifteen seconds went by and the barrage ended, and all of the bandits were left staring at me, completely at a loss for words.

"My turn," I said.

I threw my arms out and brought my hands together in a thunderous "clap", the shockwave sending them all sailing backwards. A few crashed into the ruined buildings behind them, while a couple others careened right over them. Point is, they all ended up on their backs in some form, although the leader was quick to get back to her feet, I'll give her that.

"His Aura's strong, Vernal," one of the bigger bandits shouted to her.

"We'll see," she snarled.

 _Ah, so her name's Vernal._

"Vernal" then retrieved two pistols from her belt, each with some sort of crescent-shaped blade attached to their circular grips. Said blades then extended to the point that their tips almost touched, but stopped short so as to not obstruct the barrel. She took aim and began pelting me with bolts of lightning dust. Ignoring them as they deflected off my costume, I leaped into the air and landed in the middle of a small group of bandits. The moment they realized I was right there, they started shooting at me again, only for me to take two of them out in quick succession.

BAM

BAM

They went sailing in opposite directions. I then grabbed the third one by his shirt before zooming across the battlefield and taking hold of another in the same manner. I threw one to the left where he smacked up against a tree, then tossed the other into a group of his friends, knocking them down like bowling pins. More bullets tapped against my back, so I threw an abandoned cart at the offenders behind me without even bothering to look. They stopped shooting after that. I then detected a small object approaching my head and caught it. It turned out to be a fire dust grenade, and once I'd locked eyes with the woman who threw it, I bit down on and detonated it prematurely.

BOOM

Through the inferno, I could see them all smirking at the assumption that I was now burned to a crisp of my own volition. In truth, the flames merely licked my skin like a warm August breeze, and as they subsided, the bandits' elation gave way to paralyzing fear when I was revealed to be completely unharmed. Some bandit with a bandana wrapped around his face shakily leveled his gun at me.

WHOOSH

CRACK

Another one down. Before the bullets could start flying again, I zipped to and fro from one bandit to the next, taking them all down one after another. All it took was a hard blow to the head, a slap to the face, or a punch to the gut and their Aura's dissipated instantly, leaving them vulnerable to whatever damage it did not absorb. After my latest target collapsed to his knees with the wind knocked out of him, Vernal reappeared and charged at me with her blades at the ready.

She fired off a few potshots as she closed the distance, and her frustration at their inability to damage me only spurred her on. She swiped at my neck with both of her blades, but they passed right through me after I vibrated my molecules a little faster. Thrown off-balance for a moment, she tried to follow up with a roundhouse kick that I blocked, and then I gave her a quick, but powerful jab to her stomach. Her Aura broke and she doubled over in pain, her arms wrapped around her middle as she struggled to breathe. She raised her head to look at me with wide, bewildered eyes, and then I placed my palm against her forehead and shoved her a good thirty feet away.

She was covered in mud as she got back to her feet, defiance written all over her features even as she raised her open palm in my direction. If she wanted to remain stubborn, fine by her; it was time to get this over with. I took a single step forward…

KRA-KOOM

Only to be halted by an intrusive bolt of lightning that struck the ground between us. Just then, someone new dropped down from the sky and landed right beside Vernal, a woman with pale skin that clashed with her billowy black hair. She was decked out in a red and black ensemble with matching beads around her neck, but what stood out to me was the white Grimm-like mask that completely covered her face.

I didn't need x-ray vision to see who this was; I already knew.

 _Raven. So this is her tribe._

I remained still as she placed her hands on her sword strapped to her side, ready to draw it at a moment's notice. Her underlings, despite their injured and weakened states, stumbled over to their true leader and gathered behind her for safety, but she didn't even spare them a glance. No doubt she had seen everything and was most displeased with how easily they were defeated by some stranger.

 _Kent,_ Liv whispered in my mind. _I've detected something you need to see._

 _What is it?_

 _Look at Raven and adjust your sight to setting five._

Curious, I did as she said. "Setting Five" referred to my ability to perceive wavelengths within the invisible spectrum, and it was the fourth vision power I mastered after x-ray, heat, telescopic, and then microscopic. Focusing on the bandit leader, I switched to the appropriate visual filter, and in Raven's place, I saw a Raven-shaped mass of energy that shone like a crimson star.

 _Liv, that's magical energy._

 _I know. That lightning bolt didn't come from Vernal._

Speaking of Vernal, she finally lowered her hand to her knee and took in a few more lungfuls of air. "M-Ma'am, we…"

"Don't bother, I saw everything," she sneered. "I'm disappointed in you. All of you! To let yourselves be defeated so easily by one unarmed huntsman! Have I taught you nothing?!"

Her anger caused her fellow tribesmen to flinch away from her, their faces overcome with a mix of fear and shame. Vernal, however, stood tall and clenched her fists.

"C'mon," she paused to spit on the ground. "He's strong, but we can take him together."

"No," Raven declared. "The Grimm are too close."

She then drew her sword and slashed the open air, generating a pitch black and blood red portal right next to her. Taking the hint, the company of bandits began filing into it one by one and were transported to safety, all except Vernal, who sent one last nasty look my way before stepping through. That just left me and Yang's estranged mother.

"Enjoy your victory while it lasts," she congratulated half-heartedly. "And if by some miracle you survive the coming horde, you'd better pray that we **never** meet again."

"We will," was my only reply.

She departed silently, the portal vanishing in the wake of her absence. Once alone, I released the breath I was holding and let the tension flow out of me. Looking back to the shelter, I saw a little girl with long purple hair looking at me from out the window. Her eyes were full of wonder, although I was unsure of how much she saw. However, she then gasped and pointed to the sky, shouting that "they" were coming.

 _They'll be on you in five seconds, Kent._

 _I know. I count 32 of them._

 _Six nevermores, seven beowolves, three ursas, four boarbatusks, ten creepers, and two beringals, to be precise._

 _Bring it on._

"ROAR!"

WHOOSH

POW

BAM

"SQUACK!"

ZAP

CRUNCH

SMACK

"SCREEEECH!"

CRACK

ZAP

"URR?"

WHAM

KA-BOOM

In no time at all, I had dispatched the monsters like clockwork. As they dissolved, I checked to make sure that no other Grimm we on their way, and smiled when it was all clear. With no danger imminent, I deactivated the shield around the shelter and called out to the survivors.

"It's okay; you can come out. You're safe now."

The front door opened slowly and they emerged into the ruins of their home. The adults did their best to keep the children from seeing any of the bodies, and the effort brought tears to their eyes. I met them halfway and an old, bearded man then stepped forward from the group. "

"Y-you… you saved us."

"It was my pleasure," I sighed as I took another look at the bodies. "I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner, though."

"Don't apologize," he assured as he wiped his eyes. "If you didn't arrive when you did… w-we'd all be…"

"Breathe," I soothed. "It's over now, and you're still alive. Don't lose sight of that."

These folk were in bad shape, physically and emotionally. As one woman tried to calm down her crying baby, though, the purple-haired little girl from before peeked out from behind her leg. Smiling, I knelt down on one knee and switched off the light show in my eyes to not appear as intimidating, and that seemed to quell her nervousness.

"Hey there. What's your name?"

"Y-Yen," she whispered.

"Yen," I repeated. "You were very brave warning me about the Grimm. Thank you."

She buried her face in her mother's leg to hide her blush. "Thank you mister… um?"

"Superman," I addressed the group as a whole as I stood back up. "You folks can call me Superman."

"Thank you, Superman," the old man said as he shook my hand. "We owe you our lives."

"You don't owe me anything," I told him. "But what you can do is allow me to take you to the nearest village."

"The closest one is over twenty miles away," another man pointed out. "We'd never make it in our condition."

"With my speed, you will," I then gestured to the nearest body lying on the ground some feet away. "That just leaves them. After I take you I could come back and retrieve them so-"

"No," the old man declared. "Bringing the corpses of our loved ones to our neighbors will only stir up more negativity. We should pay our respects here and now."

"… Alright then," I nodded solemnly. "I didn't see a cemetery on my way in, so I'm guessing that you cremate your dead?"

"That's right."

"Then I'll build a funeral pyre big enough for all of them. After that, take all the time you need for proceedings. I'll keep watch in the meantime."

"You sure?"

"I promise; nothing and nobody will get anywhere _near_ this place."

"Thank you again," he choked out.

Everyone then spread out to locate their fallen friends and family foremost, Yen giving me a small smile before her mother led her away.

 _Feel any better_ , Liv prodded.

 _Yeah_ , I looked up to the moon and closed my eyes for a moment. _Gosh, I needed this_.

 _Kent_ , her authoritative tone had returned. _You know I love helping you help people, but you really should take some time to think about stuff._

 _At a later time. Right now, let's finish helping these guys, and then we'll make a pit stop at the Vault on our way back._

 _Why?_

 _To confirm a theory._

(X)

The funeral lasted over an hour, after which I made good on my promise and brought them all to the nearest village located at the edge of the dead zone. It turns out that the two communities, known as Iris and Arum, were on very good terms with each other thanks to their trade agreement; the former would exchange dust they mined from the nearby mountains for food, medicine, and weapons produced by the latter. That arrangement was now botched, obviously, so after I transported the remnants of Iris to their new home, I encouraged Arum to shore up its defenses in case the bandits decided to strike them next.

And Little Yen, bless her heart. Her father was one of the casualties when Iris was attacked, so you would expect a child like her to be broken emotionally. Admittedly she was, but when it came time for me to depart, she still made sure to give me the biggest, most grateful hug and brightest smile she could manage beforehand. The hurt was still there, but she had the strength pull through. The rest of the villagers bid me a fond farewell also, there faces alight with hope as I flew away.

Mission Accomplished.

So now I found myself sitting in the back corner of the "Espresso Self" coffee shop in the residential district of Vale. The place was small, but comforting and warm, with brown leather seats and a red candle at each table. As it wasn't even sunrise yet, the place was mostly empty save for myself and two other people who came in after I did, but they weren't even aware of my presence. The barista had already taken my order a couple of minutes ago, so now all there was to do was wait for my guest, who had just arrived. A flapping of wings alerted me to his arrival before he walked into my field of vision. He must have flown in here through the window in one of the bathrooms.

"Mornin' kid," he greeted as he sat down across from me.

"Morning Qrow," I nodded back, and it was then that the barista returned and set one large cup in front of each of us, along with a cheese danish for myself.

"Will you be needing anything else?" she asked.

"Not at the moment, no. Thank you, though."

She then quickly made her way to the other side of the shop and disappeared behind the front counter, and that's when Qrow grabbed the cup in front of him and gave it a good sniff.

"Hope you don't mind, but I guessed that you prefer your coffee black."

"You guessed right," he grinned as he took a long sip from his drink. "Aaaaah, nice."

"Glad you like it," I smiled and took a bite of my danish before washing it down with my own hot beverage; a vanilla cappuccino with an extra shot of caramel and raspberry. "At first, I thought about meeting you at the Crow Bar, but this seemed like the better choice."

"The Crow Bar ain't even open yet," he said. "Not that they would've let you in, anyway, with you lookin' like a minor."

"Need I remind you that I'm over seven centuries you senior? Compared to me, _you're_ the minor."

"Uh, kid, should you really be talkin' about that in public?"

I showed him the omni-tool again. "Suppression field, remember? To everyone within earshot, we're just talking about school stuff."

"Right, forgot about that," he took another drink. "Speaking of which, aren't you supposed to start training Yang today?"

"First thing after breakfast," then I paused. "Did Ozpin tell you?"

"Nah, a little birdy did. He likes to check in on his nieces every couple of days."

"That's good," I raised my cup to my lips again. "What's he think of my arrangement with Yang?'

"He thinks it'll do her good," he answered. "He's just… concerned."

"In what way?"

The grizzled huntsman sighed. "Let me give it to ya straight, kid. You know full well about our family history thanks to that… show, which is still kinda creepy, mind you. You know what she's been through, what her issues are."

"Yes, and not to sound rude, but what's your point?"

He set his cup down and leaned over the table. "My point is that I don't want to see her get hurt again when someone she cares about leaves. Again."

I froze, the rim of my drink an inch away from my mouth. "I… I would never hurt her like that on purpose."

Qrow gazed at me a moment longer before leaning back and relaxing his posture. "Look, I believe you, kid. Just remember that when it's nearing time for you to go world hopping again, alright?"

"I will," I said as I took another bite of my pastry.

 _Does Yang really care about me that much already?_

"Now," Qrow went on, pulling me from my thoughts. "Might I ask what was so important that you left campus without Oz knowing?"

"With what I've just learned, he won't be too upset that I broke curfew."

"What are you talkin' about?"

I chugged half my coffee. "Well, I just got back from Anima."

"Anima? How-?"

"I can fly, moving on," I wiped my mouth with a napkin before continuing. "I went there to save a village called Iris that was being attacked by bandits."

"I thought you wanted to keep a low profile."

"I am, but this is what I do, Qrow," I shrugged. "Plus I had a rough night sleep, so I figured a little exercise would do me some good, like an early morning walk."

"A walk that involved protectin' innocent people from a contingent of murderers and thieves."

"It was a very _enthusiastic_ walk."

"I bet," he chortled. "But bandit attacks are commonplace out there. What's so special about this one?"

"Because the bandits attacking Iris were of Raven's tribe," I revealed, his eyes going wide. "I didn't know until Raven herself showed up after I'd kicked the crap out of them all."

"Was the Spring Maiden with her?" he inquired a bit frantically.

"No," I started. "And I can confirm that Raven does _not_ have the Spring Maiden in her possession."

"How do you know?"

"… Because Raven **is** the Spring Maiden."

The veteran huntsman stared at me in open-mouthed shock, only stopping when he remembered to breathe. "Are you fucking with me?"

"No I am not," I admitted. "I literally saw the power within her; a wellspring of magic, the same kind that Amber has albeit stronger. There is no doubt in my mind."

Qrow fell back in his seat and started rubbing his chin as the implications of my report set in, his shock giving way to anger and confusion over the news.

"Raven," he growled. "How could she?"

"We don't know if that's the case, Qrow," I said to regain his attention. "For all we know, Spring could've died protecting the tribe, or any number of other reasons."

"Maybe, but what do we do about this?"

"I know you keep in contact with Raven sporadically. If she tries to get ahold of you, don't give anything away or do anything rash. We'll work something out to deal with her at some point, but apart from that, we stick to the original plan. Can you do that for me, Qrow?"

He drew in a deep breath through his nostrils to calm down. "Yeah, sure."

"Thank you," I then finished my pastry, downed the rest of my coffee, and stood up. "Now, I've got to get going; Yang's waiting for me."

"I… think I'll stay here for a bit," he murmured.

"Qrow, I'm sorry about all this," I patted him on the shoulder. "But please, hang in there. We've got this."

He looked up at me and offered a tired smile. "Alright. Catch ya later, kid."

"Right back atcha."

I approached the front counter to pay for my order, but before the cashier could ring me up, I stopped him.

"Can you add a couple more large black coffees to that? It's for the guy still sitting at my table."

"He sure looks like he needs it," he observed.

"You have no idea."

 **A.N** :

Here we go. Kent doing some actual superheroing. Whaddya think?

Thanks for your patience guys, your support means a lot to me.

Please leave a comment/review. Your critiques help me improve as a writer.

'Till next time!


	14. First Lesson

"So, what's the lesson for today, Teach?" Yang asked as we walked side-by-side into the training arena.

"Something simple," I pulled my gloved tight against my hands as I made my way to the other side while she lingered on the other. "Our plan is to help you control your anger, so today we're gonna see how long you can keep your cool in a fight before blowing your stack."

"Alright then."

"First off, this session will be strictly hand-to-hand only, so no Ember Celica."

At first, I thought she would be reluctant to separate herself from her weapon, but surprisingly she removed her bracelets and set them off to the side as quick as she could. She then performed a few quick jabs at the open air to get used to the absence of their weight and then bounced in place for a moment while jerking her head from side to side to relieve the pressure in her neck as my gaze traveled lower to behold her bosom moving up and down and up and down and…

"Anything else?" she asked.

 _Dangit! Why?_

"Yeah," I coughed out. "I'll be timing us as we go. The second I see your eyes turn red, we stop. Understood?"

"Completely," she nodded and took up her boxing stance. "Ready?"

"Almost," I then threw off my jacket and assumed the karate stance I used last time we squared off. "On my signal. Three… two… one… GO!"

Yang ran at me full sprint while I remained still and let her come to me. She opened with a few quick jabs that I blocked before trying a scissor kick aimed at my midsection. I stopped it with my forearm and then used my other to knock her leg back down hard enough that the sole of her foot cracked the ground. While she was distracted from the pain, I swept her feet out from under her and then punched her torso to send her crashing into the wall at a ninety-degree angle. She hit the floor face-down, my ears catching a muffled moan before she used her fists to push herself up and glare at me.

Red.

"Time," I called out, my hands forming the appropriate sign.

She took a few angry breaths before closing her eyes and taking a long, drawn-out one, her eyes returning to their normal color as she reopened them. "How'd I do?"

I cringed. "… 10.2 seconds."

"That's it?"

"Eyyup."

"Huh," her posture slumped as her countenance fell. "That's disappointing."

"Yeah, a little bit," she narrowed her eyes at me. "But we've only just begun. Now we switch things up a bit."

"How?" She eyed me curiously as I gestured for her to come over.

As she approached I raised both my hands, palms open. "Let's start out slow and steady, and see if you can go for at least 20 seconds this time."

She raised an eyebrow, but then brought up her fists again. One hit my right palm, another struck my left, followed by two more to my right again, two to my left, and it alternated from there. Her attacks had no real weight behind them apart from the bare minimum, but the point of this exercise was to learn, not hurt; we both knew this and it made the whole experience rather calming and tranquil.

"So I was wondering," Yang piped up as she kept throwing light punches. "Where exactly did you learn how to fight like that? You must have had a really good teacher."

"Several, actually," I answered. "I've met a lot of interesting people in my travels, and you know what they say; 'you never stop being a student'. I took every opportunity I could to learn something new."

"What about your parents? I mean, my dad was my teacher; didn't yours teach you anything?"

"Sadly, no," I frowned. "My dad was one of those 'do it yourself' type of dads; if you couldn't learn or do it on your own like he did growing up, then you just weren't capable."

"Sink or swim?"

"And then some," I then upgraded to smacking her hand away every few swings. "Like this one time when I won a shotgun in a raffle. It was the first weapon our family ever owned and I wanted to use it to protect our home, you know? But dad would only let me keep it in the house if I _didn't_ buy ammo for it."

"That's crazy," she proclaimed. "What were you supposed to use it for then?"

"I asked him that, and he never gave me a straight answer apart from 'you can figure it out yourself'. He was the 'Big Dog' of our house, after all; who was I to question him?"

"Your dad sounds like a difficult person, no offense."

"None taken. He wasn't all bad; he just didn't know how to deal with his problems correctly, which unfortunately made things difficult for my mom, siblings, and me."

"What's your mom like?"

"She's amazing," I smiled. "Always supporting me and picking me up whenever I was down, not to mention wise and strong in spirit. She was the one who signed me up for my first combat class. She may not have been a fighter, but is still one of the few people I know who's tougher than me. A real Supermom."

Yang paused mid-swing, and that's when I realized my mistake. I was so caught up in my memories that I didn't pay attention to what I was saying and how it could trigger her emotions. Mentally kicking myself, I ignored my own reservations and pushed on with my act, feigning ignorance.

"You okay?"

"… My mom was the same way," she spoke quietly as her arm slowly dropped. "Baker of cookies and slayer of monsters. She loved Ruby and me so much."

 _No points for guessing which mom she's talking about._

I took a few steps closer to her but made sure to keep a respectful distance. "Did something happen to her?"

"She-," Yang paused, her eyes going wide. "Is watching us."

"Huh?"

Without warning, Yang threw another punch at me, this one a lot stronger than the previous ones. I grabbed her wrist, but then she spun around and pressed her back against my front. She wrapped my arm around her neck at the same time, and I allowed her to do all this because I was too shocked and embarrassed at being _this_ close to her to stop her.

"Weiss is sneaking a peek," she revealed in a whisper. "Over there by the door."

Curious, I switched on my super senses and smiled upon locating the heiress. "You're right. What do you want to do about this?"

"Put on a show, of course. And make it count."

"Alright, if you insist."

SLAM

In an instant, she was face-down on the ground again while I made a show of dusting myself off. I then heard her teeth grind before she pushed herself up onto all fours, crimson eyes staring daggers at me.

"Again with the face-planting thing?" she growled.

"You said 'make it count'," I pointed out. "And speaking of counting: three minutes and forty-three seconds."

"Come again?"

"That's how long it took you to get angry this time," I extended my hand and helped pull her to her feet. "Now, why do you think that is?"

She rubbed her cheek as she pondered. "Because… I wasn't thinking about getting angry?"

"What _were_ you thinking about?"

"About Ruby, my mom, and dad..."

"And how did that make you feel?"

She blinked, her eyes regaining their lilac shade. "Happy…"

"Bingo," I said with a snap of my fingers. "We've made a breakthrough."

"That's your lesson," came a familiar voice approaching from behind me. "Think happy thoughts?"

"Perhaps you should give it a try sometime, Ice Queen," Yang playfully insisted. "You saw how it did wonders for me, after all."

"Oh haha," the ivory-haired girl mocked.

"What are you doing down here, Weiss?" I asked her. "Normally you're studying up in your room this early, right?"

"Oh, I'm still studying," she said. "I just felt a change of scenery was necessary to gather more information."

"Information on what? Yang and I's fighting techniques?

"Um, actually," Yang said. "I think she means just you."

I cast the blonde a befuddled look. "Just me?"

"Don't act so ignorant," Weiss chided. "You're stronger and faster than most, if not all of the other first years; you proved it during the initiation."

"In what way?" I teased.

Yang leaned into my POV with three fingers raised, obstructing my view of her teammate. "Geist. No Weapon. One punch."

"Thanks, Yang," I gently pushed her aside with my finger. "Please continue, Weiss."

She blinked, and then coughed. "My point is, more and more students are wondering what you're secret is, and I believe I've figured it out."

"Have you now?" I raised my eyebrow. "Alright then, lay it on me."

"It… is your semblance!" she declared proudly.

" _I feel the urge to laugh,"_ Liv said. _"Would it be rude to laugh right now?"_

 _Yes…_

 _Don't…_

" _Hah-"_

 _Mute._

"Can you elaborate on that, please?" I urged the smaller teen.

"Certainly," she nodded as she pulled out her scroll. "Through extensive research, I have concluded that your semblance involves the ability to amplify your physical attributes (strength, speed, stamina, durability, etc.) to their utmost limit. However, you are only able to magnify _one_ at a time, hence why this particular set of skills has been dubbed "surging".

"Surging," I echoed, putting my hand to my chin.

Crossing her arms, Weiss grinned at me smugly. "Well?"

"Hmm, good try… but no."

"What?!"

"You're incorrect, plain and simple."

"B-But… but," she stuttered, looking to Yang who was too busy covering her mouth to stifle a giggle. "My research… everything should've checked out… I was… ugh!"

She turned and marched away after that, most likely out of embarrassment over her failure to correctly discern my capabilities. I watched with concern as she strut out the door of the training room, only for Jaune and Pyrrha (both clad in full huntsman gear) to walk right in afterward.

"Hey guys," I greeted. "How's it going?"

Pyrrha smiled and waved as she and her partner approached. "Good morning, Kent. Good morning, Yang."

"Wassup?"

Jaune looked over his shoulder at the retreating heiress. "Is Weiss alright?"

"Yeah, she's just a bit frustrated," I clarified.

"Oh, well, what was it about this time?" Pyrrha grinned, but quickly shrank away in the face of our surprised looks. "… I'm sorry."

Yang leaned in closer to me. "Did she just crack a joke at someone else's expense?"

"I know, I'm worried too," I whispered back.

"Maybe I could talk to her," Jaune suggested, his lady-killer persona resurfacing. "You know, maybe over coffee, lit by candlelight, under the stars? That would be nice, don't you think Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha was obviously uncomfortable with the idea but was too polite to let him know. "Um… I guess."

Suddenly her scroll rang, allowing her to excuse herself before she got too uncomfortable. Yang and I shared a look, the "I can't believe this is still a thing" look before I coughed to gain the leader of Team JNPR's attention.

"Look, Jaune-"

"Excuse me," Pyrrha chimed in, holding out her scroll to Yang. "I'm sorry, but Yang, it's for you. It sounds urgent."

Yang gingerly took it and placed it against her ear. "Hello?"

" _Yang?"_ came a familiar, albeit panicked voice.

"Nora? What's the matter?"

" _It's Ruby; I think there's something wrong!"_

"What?! What do you mean 'wrong'?"

" _Ren and I heard noises coming from your guys' room. It sounds like she's crying, but the doors' locked."_

"I'll be there soon," Yang murmured, her voice trembling. "Kent, I need you to take me to my room right now!"

The urgency in her tone wiped away any hesitation I might have had. "On it."

I wrapped my arms around her and zoomed out of the building, ignoring Pyrrha and Jaune calling out to us, as well as Weiss when we passed her by. By the time Yang blinked a third time we were in front of the door to Team RWBY's dorm. Nora and Ren, inseparable as they were, were there and jumped when we suddenly appeared. The second Yang's feet touched the ground, she shoulder-checked the door open and I followed her inside, stopping when she did in the middle of the room.

On her bed, Ruby was thrashing about wildly, her eyes closed tight as she let out a series of small whimpers. Tears were leaking out of the corners of her eyes as Yang reached up and pulled her sister down and set her on Weiss' bed, paying no mind to when Ruby's little hands smacked her face a few times.

"What's going on?" Nora asked as she and Ren stood in the doorway.

"Ruby's having a night terror," the blonde explained as she placed her hand against Ruby's forehead. "She hasn't had one in so long that I didn't think about it."

"What do we do?" I asked.

"Dad kept a batch of cookies on standby for this; the smell helps calm her down. Ruby usually keeps some in a small box under her pillow."

Using the bottom bunk for support, I reached up and under Ruby's pillow and quickly found the little red container, which felt unnervingly light in my hands. Sure enough, when I opened the lid all I found was crumbs, and then showed my findings to Yang

"Dangit, Ruby. This just made things a lot harder."

I looked back and forth between the sisters; Yang's melancholy and Ruby's distress weighing heavily on me. Knowing their shared past, I could procure a few theories about the source of Ruby's sleeping issues, but I shoved them all aside in the face of reality. Here were two wonderful girls in need of help, and I was just standing there. Narrowing my eyes in concentration, I closed the box in my hands rather loudly.

"No," I said as I slipped the box into my sleeve.

"What?" Yang startled.

"Do what you can, I'll be right back."

"What do-"

WHOOSH

I put on a little more speed than I usually do when traveling across campus and nearly blew the doors to the kitchen off their hinges when I burst through them. Nobody was there to witness my dynamic entry, but it would only be a matter of time before the kitchen staff arrived to begin lunch prep.

Not a problem for me.

WHOOSH

First, I grabbed a bowl, whisk, baking tray, and measuring cups from off the shelves. Then it was off to the baking room to grab sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, flour, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips. And lastly, a quick trip through the walk-in fridge to retrieve eggs and butter. I set all the ingredients and tools on an empty table, and then my work began.

 _All you have to do is take a cup of flour, add it to the mix~._

My hands… nay, my whole being moved with precision and purpose as I measured each portion accordingly and threw them into the bowl.

 _Then add a little something sweet, not sour, plus a bit of salt, just a pinch~._

Once everything was combined, I held the bowl in one arm and then grabbed the whisk to begin mixing, the force at which I stirred the contents creating a small cyclone around my workstation.

 _Baking these treats is such a cinch, add a teaspoon of vanilla~._

After the mix was complete, I divided the dough into exactly fifteen portions on the baking sheet. I then set it aside for a moment as I went about cleaning everything I borrowed and returning it to its proper place.

 _Add a little more and you count to four, and then you'll get your filla~._

I then grabbed the tray again and with one quick heat vision blast, the contents turned a lovely golden brown, their pleasant smell filling my nostrils. Satisfied with my work, I placed them in the box, cleaned off the tray, and made sure to leave a note informing the cooks of what I'd done and compensated them by leaving some lien behind as well.

WHOOSH

The Flower Power duo gave me a wide berth once I arrived and then made my way back into the room, but the sight I saw made me stop only for a moment, and yet it felt like an eternity. In the past two minutes that I was away, Yang had transitioned to sitting on the edge of the bed with Ruby curled up in something of a fetal position in her lap. Her eyes were shut tight and she was still fidgeting erratically, and then her big sister looked up to me imploringly.

 _Where were you?_

 _I-I was here the whole…_

 _LIAR!_

 _ **I won.**_

I closed my eyes and forced those memories to recede, and then after putting on my best friendly smile, I knelt before the bed and opened the box. Thin wisps of steam wafted into the air and soon found their way into Ruby's nostrils. Her reaction was almost instantaneous as she stopped flailing about and curled deeper into her sister's hold. Her brows then knitted closer together before her eyes fluttered open and she worked to blink the sleepiness out of them.

"W-What? Yang?" she spoke tiredly, looking up at the bright lilac eyes of her sister before following the scent of cookies to their source. "Kent?"

"It's okay, Ruby," I spoke softly to her as I handed her a cookie, which she took like it was the most precious thing in the world to her. "We're here for you."

"The bad dream's over," Yang promised. "You can go back to sleep now."

"Okay," the little reaper murmured as she nibbled on her treat. "Sank yuv."

She drifted off right after that, her cookie held close to her chest as Yang carefully lifted her back onto her bunk. As she snored away, I made sure to tuck her box back under her pillow, but not too far under so as to not ruin her comfort.

"Glad that's over," Yang breathed out. "Thanks for helping us out again."

"Anytime, although that's _two_ she owes me now," I laughed as she jabbed me in the arm again. "So, is it safe for me to ask what that was all about?"

"Ruby and I were almost killed by Grimm when we were kids. Our uncle Qrow saved us, but Ruby was a little more affected by it than I was."

"That sucks…"

 _So does already knowing and not being able to tell her yet._

"And I'm sorry we had to cut our training short."

She waved me off. "Nah, it's fine. Fighting is fun and all, but family is more important. There's always next time."

"Amen," I acknowledged. "Well, I guess I'm gonna head out now; it's been a pretty eventful morning and I could use some rest before lunch."

"Yeah, see ya later then," Yang bid, but before I could even finish turning towards the door I felt her grab my wrist. "Kent?"

"Yeah, what's-?"

Warmth. Blossoming warmth upon my cheek. Reaching into and across my invulnerable skin until nearly the whole right side of my face was hot. The soft caress of Yang's lips soon departed, but the heat remained even as we looked into each other's eyes.

"There's a happy thought for you," she said, giggling at how ridiculous I must have looked with my mouth hanging open and my eyes constantly blinking.

"A-hem."

Like a deer caught in the headlights, we were caught by surprise by Weiss standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. Ren and Nora then leaned into view from the right side with sheepish smiles on their faces.

"Sorry," Nora apologized. "We wanted to tell you she was waiting."

"But we didn't want to… interrupt," Ren added.

"Heh heh," Yang flustered. "Weissy! Hey! Watcha need?"

The heiress reached behind her person and retrieved two golden bracelets. "I need to return these to you since you left them behind so recklessly."

Jaune and Pyrrha then made themselves known by doing the same thing their teammates did, albeit on the opposite doorpost.

"Also, you still have my scroll," the Mistrali Champion revealed.

As quick as she could, the blonde brawler tossed said electronic device to its rightful owner, who thanked Yang once it was back in her possession. After Weiss handed over the two halves of Ember Celica, she tossed them up onto her own bunk and then made her way over to the bathroom.

"Sooo," she grinned as she grabbed the doorknob. "Same time next week?"

"Yeah," I smiled. "See ya later."

"Bye."

She disappeared through the doorway, and after I heard the sound of the shower being turned on, I figured it was best I take my leave. JNPR and Weiss were polite enough to give me some room as I bid them farewell and exited into the hallway, but I only made it a short distance away when I heard a certain someone walking fast to catch up with me.

"Kent," Weiss said as she came to a stop a few feet away, both of us now standing in front of a random door.

She was trying to hide it, but I could tell that she was nervous about something as I heard her heart rate increase slightly. "Yes, Weiss?"

"I overheard you talking with Yang earlier," her strong, confident front ebbed away as she folded her hands behind her back to try and maintain some manner of decorum. "And I just wanted to say… I understand what it's like to have issues with your father."

 _Tell me about it._

"It sucks sometimes, doesn't it?"

"Not the word I would use," she said. "But I agree."

"… Well, thanks for sharing that with me. I'll be going now."

"W-Wait," she called out, stopping me once more.

"Yeah?"

"If you are interested," she struggled, her cheeks turning pink. "Perhaps we could… share our experiences with each other. It could potentially help us become more cohesive as students and huntsmen."

"Potentially?" I thought aloud. "Hmm, alright; I'll consider it, as long as you're patient and trust me to open up to you at my own pace. No more sneaky tactics and secret research, okay?"

"Thank you," she curtsied gladly. "And I will."

"You're welcome," I held up two fingers. "Peace out."

"Farewell."

We then went our separate ways, Weiss returning to her own room while I trotted off toward mine. Once I shut the door behind me, I leaned back against it and ran my hands down my face as I thought back on everything I had been through the past several hours.

"Heck of a day, huh?" Liv said as she appeared on my nightstand, her legs dangling off the edge.

"Eyyyup," I sighed. "Wait, didn't I mute you?"

"You did; I just loaded a previous save."

I snickered. "Of course."

 _~We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz~_

That song came from my scroll, which I pulled out my pocket and found that it was Ozpin who was trying to get ahold of me. Since I couldn't remember assigning specific ringtones to my contacts, however, I shot an accusatory glare at Liv, who was now busy playing ping pong with a duplicate of herself.

"You don't even like ping pong," I verbally noted before pressing the "answer" key. "Mornin' Ozpin, how're you today?"

" _Splendid, in spite of things,"_ he replied.

"Qrow talked to you, didn't he?" I asked as I sat on the edge of my bed.

" _That he did, although considering the news he shared, I was surprised when he arrived smelling like a heaping pile of Mistralian Dark Roast as opposed to… the usual. It was a welcome change."_

"Yeah, I can imagine. So, what do you think of this new piece of intel?"

"To _be frank, I don't like it one bit. The power Raven now wields was meant to be used for the benefit of others, not detriment. I don't know what's worse: that Raven simply got lucky, or if Spring actually trusted her a great deal."_

"Didn't _you_ trust her once, too?"

" _Yes, but that was long ago. She and her brother were different people back then, but when the time came they both made a choice and went their separate ways. Dwelling on it won't change anything."_

"I agree."

" _But regardless, this does affect things going forward."_

"How so?"

" _Salem's goal is to destroy the huntsman academies so she may retrieve the Relics from their respective Vaults, you know this."_

"I do, but what does Raven have to do with it?"

" _Each Vault can only be opened by a specific Maiden. The Spring Vault holds the Relic of Knowledge and is located beneath Haven Academy in Mistral. If Salem were to attack Haven…"_

My eyes widened as I pieced it together. "Then Raven could swoop in and steal the relic for herself if she wanted."

"That also gives another reason why Cinder wants to kill Amber," Liv-1 added before resuming her game with Liv-2.

"But what would Raven even do with it? She'd just paint a bigger target on her back if Salem found out she had it."

" _I know,"_ Ozpin continued. _"Salem would set all of Anima ablaze to get her hands on it. The devastation and loss of life would be catastrophic. That is something we cannot allow."_

"I hear ya. Don't worry Oz; I'll factor this into my plan; I did promise Raven that we would meet again, after all."

" _That's_ _good_ , _but_ how _exactly_ do you intend to deal with _her_?"

"I'm **not** going to kill her if that's what you're asking. Yang's been searching for her all her life; I will not take that from her."

" _Well, whatever you end up deciding, I will leave you to your work. Enjoy your weekend, Mr. Mason; you've certainly earned it."_

"Thank you."

" _You're welcome,"_ I was about to end the call when his voice came through again. _"Oh, before I go, there is one more thing…"_

"What's up?"

" _Glynda wanted me to remind you that if you ever plan on storming the kitchen again, please notify her first."_

I laughed a little at that. "I gotcha, but in my defense, it was for a good cause. I swear."

" _I suppose I'll take your word for it,"_ he chuckled.

CLICK

I tossed the scroll onto the nightstand just as the two Liv's ended their ping pong match in a draw. This really had been an eventful day, and I stalled my nap long enough. Physically I had no reason to be tired: I knew this, but mentally and emotionally? Yeah, today was a roller coaster in that regard.

"Liv, please wake me up at 11:55."

"Sure," replied Liv-1.

"Want me to keep you company in there until then?" asked Liv-2.

I laid back down and pressed my palm into my cheek again, which was still warm to the touch. "Nah, I'll be fine."

"Okay then. Sleep tight."

"Wait," Liv-1 pulled out a virtual clipboard and examined it. "I'm noticing a scheduling conflict."

I closed my eyes and began focusing my mind and body into rest mode. "What kind?"

"You and Yang planned to have your next training session a week from today, but there's an event already scheduled for that day."

"Wait, what event?"

Liv-1 handed her clipboard to Liv-2, who stared at it a moment before visibly cringing.

"Black and White," she revealed. "Ring any bells?"

I opened my eyes wide, said bells ringing loud and clear. "Quiznak."

(X)

 **A.N** :

That story about the shotgun is actually true.

Sorry, this took so long, but holidays are a busy time, ya' know?

Christmas Break is coming in a few weeks, which will give me more time to finish the next chapter. I hope to have it out before New Years. Please forgive me for keeping you waiting longer than anticipated.

Thank you for your patience. Please leave a comment/review. Your criticisms help me improve.

Stay tuned.


	15. Hiatus Notice

Hello, readers. First of all, allow me to apologize for, once again, not finishing the next chapter and posting it when I said I would. Nobody is at fault here but me, and I apologize if my tardiness disappointed and/or frustrated you, etc.

But I am also posting this to inform you that I will be taking a leave of absence from both this story and Convergence for an indefinite amount of time. At the start of this year, I looked over the goals I wanted to accomplish before 2020, and among them was finishing one of my stories. Realistically, I will not be able to finish this story nor the other before my set deadline, so I will instead be devoting my time to completing my new Voltron fic "Kindred" over on AO3, which will be a lot shorter and easier to manage that these two.

Once again, I am so sorry to keep you all waiting and failing to hold things up on my end. From now on, I won't be making you guys promises that I'm not sure I will be able to keep; when I pick up these stories again, I'll just finish them when I can.

Thank you all for your comments, critiques, honesty, and support. Take care now, and have a great year.

'Till next time.


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